Resource: Community-Led & Gender Transformative Data Collection
At Salanga, we are committed to advancing community-led and gender-transformative approaches in data collection. Recently, we had the opportunity to share this quick key questions framework during a Community of Practice (CoP) call with SMOs as part of the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT) program. The discussion focused on how small and medium-sized organizations (SMOs) can strengthen local leadership, ensure inclusivity, and center gender equality during baseline data collection.
Download our practical resource is designed to help organizations quickly reflect on their data collection processes by addressing power dynamics, ethical considerations, and community ownership. It’s not meant to be exhaustive but instead offers a simple set of guiding questions to help teams integrate local voices and gender-transformative practices into their work.
More key questions to reflect on related to community leadership and gender transformative principles:
Centering Community Leadership
- Who is involved in designing the baseline data collection?
- Are community members engaged in shaping the questions and approach?
- Are there local advisory groups or representatives guiding the process?
- How are community voices and priorities reflected in the data collection plan?
- Are we prioritizing indicators that are meaningful to the community?
- Who is collecting the data?
- Are local researchers, community members, or frontline workers involved in data collection?
- How are we ensuring ethical and culturally sensitive data collection?
- How will the community benefit from the baseline data?
- Is there a plan for sharing findings back with the community in an accessible way?
- Will the data be used for community-led decision-making and advocacy?
- What mechanisms are in place for community feedback and accountability?
- Are there channels for community members to voice concerns about the process?
- Is there space for communities to co-analyze the data and interpret findings?
Integrating Gender-Transformative Principles
- Does the data collection capture power dynamics and gender inequalities?
- Are we examining decision-making roles in households and communities?
- Do we ask about access to and control over resources?
- Are we capturing diverse gender experiences, including those of marginalized groups?
- Do questions reflect the experiences of women, men, non-binary people, and other gender identities?
- Are we considering intersectionality (e.g., how gender, disability, ethnicity, age affect experiences)?
- How are we ensuring safe and ethical participation for all genders?
- Are we using gender-sensitive approaches to interviewing and survey administration?
- Do we have protocols for handling disclosures of gender-based violence or sensitive topics?
- Are we addressing potential biases in data collection?
- Are our data collectors trained on gender-sensitive facilitation?
- Do our tools use neutral, inclusive, and non-leading language?
- How will gender perspectives be integrated into data analysis and use?
- Will we disaggregate data by gender and other key demographic factors?
- Are gender experts or local women’s organizations involved in reviewing and interpreting the data?
How does your organization ensure baseline data collection is community-led and gender-transformative?