Gender Champions’ Knowledge and Skills

The indicator measures the number of targeted gender champions who gained the desired knowledge and skills. Gender champions are male and female community members trained to facilitate the Transforming Masculinities community dialogues. Not only can this indicator be used for a single activity (e.g. training), but also for the sum of different knowledge and skills-transfer activities (e.g. practical demonstrations, coaching, training, etc).

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Define a limited number of the most important knowledge or/and skills that the gender champions should gain as a result of the provided support. Avoid having unrealistically high or unnecessarily low requirements by verifying the test’s difficulty by pre-testing it with several respondents.

2) Prepare simple tests assessing whether the targeted gender champions have the pre-defined, most important knowledge and/or skills.

3) Decide the minimum result a person needs to reach in order to pass the test (for example, answering correctly at least 7 out of 10 knowledge-related questions and performing correctly at least 3 out of 5 tested skills).

4) Administer the test to a representative sample of gender champions by using a combination of:

  > a written test (in the case of literate persons) or interview where the data collector asks knowledge-related questions and records whether the respondent provided correct answers (in the case of largely illiterate persons)

  > observations where the gender champions are asked to perform the tested skill and the data collector records whether it was performed correctly

5) Count the number of respondents that reached the minimum required result.

6) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of gender champions who attained the minimum required knowledge/skills by the total number of tested gender champions and multiply the number by 100. For example, 160 people who passed the test divided by 200 people who took the test multiplied by 100 equals an 80% success rate. 

As a next step, multiply this “success rate” by the total number of targeted gender champions (e.g., 80% multiplied by 500 equals to 400 gender champions who acquired the desired knowledge / skills).

1) Always conduct both a “pre-test” and “post-test” – otherwise you will not know the extent to which the respondents changed their knowledge and skills.

2) Decide whether to measure the direct effect of a one-off activity (e.g. a demonstration) or the effect of a longer learning process (e.g. series of several trainings over a period of time).

3) If possible, conduct the “post-test” twice – once immediately after the “capacity building” activity is completed (showing you the immediate learning) and then 1-2 months later (showing you the knowledge and/or skills which people actually remember and might use). However, the tests do not need to relate to a single activity only (e.g. training) – they can be provided during the baseline and endline surveys, assessing the overall change in the target gender champions’ specific knowledge and/or skills.

4) In addition to measuring gender champions’ knowledge and skills, consider also measuring their gender-related attitudes using the GEM methodology.