Includovate IRB IDRC WEE Ethiopia

Notes: List the names of all researchers involved in the study. Include their position held and their qualifications. If additional space is required please attach separate sheet

Alemi Desta – Researcher 

Hidaya Muhiden – Researcher 

• Protect the interests of participants
• Ensure voluntary participation based on informed consent
• Act honestly without deception
• Do no harm to any participant
• Ensure that all information is accurate
• Abide by national laws and international codes of conduct

• Decide not to take part in the study
• Decide to withdraw their participation at any time
• Ask questions at any time
• Skip any questions they feel uncomfortable answering 
• Receive a copy of the consent form
• Decide to take part without pressure

Signature

Provide a brief summary of the project in lay terminology.

The project summary should include the following details: 

• • Aims of the project
• Importance of the study
• Justification/rationale for the research

The first and immediate goal to be achieved through this project is tackling WEE and unpaid care burden through three work streams: Rapid technical assistance and expert analysis, capacity strengthening of key policy actors, and strengthening of in-country coalition of key WEE champions. The project will synthesise the fragmented evidence base on WEE and unpaid care and widely disseminate this to help advocate for changes. The project has three objectives:

1. Developing and testing innovative policy uptake approaches that will lead to improved public policies and actions to enhance women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and/or address unpaid care in Ethiopia
2. Building a culture of learning and improvement to facilitate course corrections and adjustments based on emerging evidence through continuous dialogue with policymakers, women’s advocates, private sector actors, donors, and academics actively working on WEE and care issues in the country
3. Strengthening collaboration and growing the pool of in-country gender champions through WEE/Care community of practice (e.g. ActionAid led WEE coalition) and other mechanisms for sharing lessons, exploring solutions, and driving action.

• Explore the relevant current and past literature
• Summarise the potential significance of the study

The GoE has expressed its commitment and support for WEE through the development of national policies, laws and frameworks that facilitate movement towards women’s empowerment and gender equality. For example, a MoWYCA technical committee undertook a gender gap assessment as part of developing the National Action Plan for Gender Equality in 2006, but a full evaluation of the 1993 National Policy was not undertaken until 2020 as part of the Seizing the Moment project. A new national gender policy is being drafted, presenting an excellent opportunity to use evidence and capacity building to influence policy makers.

Gender equality goals need to be revisited and strengthened via policy and programme implementation in the wake of COVID-19. With telecommunications reforms such as Safari.com entering the country, more people will be connected to the internet and able to work from home, and more businesses will emerge, leaving women further behind if WEE does not improve. As the country sets out to ‘build back better’ post COVID and conflict, foreign direct investment will be a necessary part of this process. The success of the industrial park zone and evidence from past programmes implies the need for concerted attention to issues such as gender based violence, workplace harassment and discrimination, and intersectionality. There is a lot of appetite and opportunity to influence policies, but there is also a risk of policy incoherence without ongoing technical gender capacity to shape the policies. Moreover, the soaring inflation in the country hits women the most because they are already less paid and engaged mostly in the informal economy. They need more hours to work to cope up with this situation. This makes addressing WEE crucial at this point in time. 

• Provide an outline of the research design, the study timeline, location of the study areas,  number of participants and data collection methods
• Refer to Annex 1 and fill the table, and input research tools in Annex 2

Regarding the research design of the study, four questions were asked to develop the approach that will be used throughout the project implementation which are described below: 

• How would the project establish linkages with key policy and implementation partners (specify who they are)?

Includovate will reinvigorate linkages and form new connections to address three work streams mentioned above and research objectives and will do the following: 

1. Invite existing network to workshop on WEE and unpaid care.
2. Meeting key policymakers to map knowledge needs and assess capacity.
3. Identify key private sector actors who are looking for, or already conducting, WEE and unpaid care innovations.
4. Develop an advocacy and communication strategy to raise awareness.
5. Develop ‘how to guides’ and training on affirmative action and other diversity and inclusion measures to influence cabinet meetings.

The key policy partners are the ministries of Innovation and technology, Agriculture, Women and Social Affairs, Trade and Industry, Labor and Skills , Planning and Development , Finance  and the Cabinet, also known as the Council of Ministers. 

• What are the kinds of questions policymakers are asking or information that would help guide WEE and care policy actions that are currently not readily available and where the envisaged rapid technical assistance can support them? 

Policymakers are asking questions such as why men should do more unpaid care work, how to invest in maternity leave, what women want in terms of caring arrangements, and what policy changes would make a difference in addition to the topics in the National Action Plan for Gender Equality and rapid technical assistance can support the policy makers to find the answers to these questions and more through training, developing knowledge products, bringing interested stakeholders and the peer network together to brainstorm and to develop and test solutions. 

• How would the proposed project identify priority issues that key policy actors would need to be aware of to integrate/develop WEE and care policies? How would you identify key questions on WEE and care that policy makers are seeking answers for?

The peer network will establish a shared purpose, identity, values, governance structure, communications system, knowledge management process, membership criteria, testing new business models, and identifying priority issues to integrate/develop WEE and care policies.Meanwhile, the helpdesk, workshops, and training with policymakers would help to identify key questions on WEE and care that policymakers are seeking answers for.

• How would you balance the two? (i.e, anticipatory and demand-driven) or where do you see the most opportunity/need in the short and medium term?

The short-term need for policymakers is to spark their interest in WEE and unpaid care, have the arguments and evidence they need to influence policy, reflect, learn and ask appropriate questions. The medium-term need is to work together across sectors to identify key entry points and overlapping issues, share knowledge and learning from each other, and motivate and support each other.

The study Timeline: 

Location of the Study areas:

Data Collection Methods: 

Outline the intended sample size for the project and justify how this will meet the aims of the study. 

Describe the characteristics of the participants that you intend to recruit in the study (e.g. inclusion/exclusion criteria, sex, age range of participants). 

Provide a detailed description of the consent process including:

• The type of consent (e.g. verbal/ written etc.)
• At what stage, in the research process will you seek consent?
• To whom will participants indicate their consent (e.g. enumerator)?
• How will you provide/leave consent materials to your potential participants and what contact details will be given?
• How will any real or perceived coercion be avoided during the consent process?
• Why is this method of consent appropriate for the participant population? 
• How will you ensure participation is voluntary and participants can withdraw at any time?
• Level and type of involvement
• Contact details of research lead/support person.

Please attach a copy of the original consent form as evidence in Annex 3. 

**If you are seeking a waiver of consent, provide sound justification. 

Will participants be paid? If so, how much?

Describe any discomfort or inconvenience to which participants may be subjected. Include information about:

• Procedures that for some people could be physically stressful or might impinge on the safety of participants 
• Procedures that for some people could be psychologically stressful.

How will the data will be collected, stored or disclosed: 

• Specify the format that the data will be collected in
• How will confidentiality be ensured? 
• Specify how individual identifiers will be removed (if applicable)

• What sort of data will you be collecting?
• How will it be analysed?

The participants will be asked to give consent for audio recording of the interviews. The recordings will be stored in a password-protected folder with limited access. All data will be anonymised.

• The research results will be reported to the participants of the study. 
• How will the research be reported /published?  
• How will participant confidentiality be maintained in your reports and publications

1. xxx