Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture & Natural Resource Management
Women’s Carbon Standard
What is the Women’s Carbon Standard ? The Women’s Carbon Standard is a set of project design and implementation requirements that • Complement existing compliance or voluntary carbon standards, or other ecosystem services programmes • Specifically support women’s empowerment and participation • Quantify beneficial outcomes for women. • Add market value to carbon credits
Women’s Carbon Standard
WCS
Carbon Project
Established Carbon Mitigation Standards
Why a Women’s Carbon Standard? Addressing 2 gaps: 1. Lack of recognition of women as primary actors in mitigation initiatives affects success and sustainability. 2. Inequitable share of benefits to women. WCS provides: • Performance-based mechanism that values and compensates women for their contributions to GHG reductions by repatriating % of carbon credits back to women’s groups. • Support for environmental enhancement and women’s well-being at the same time. Carbon projects can be leveraged to support women’s empowerment AND climate mitigation, through investments in women.
How will the Women’s Carbon Standard be Implemented? • Existing or New projects assess how the WCS can be integrated into their project and apply to use WCS • Projects must plan for and measure progress in six domains: Income & Assets, Time, Health, Leadership, Food Security and Education & Knowledge. • Any type of carbon emissions reduction project is potentially applicable: forestry, energy, agriculture, etc. • The WCS can be applied to other programmes, but WOCAN is starting with Carbon projects
Example Performance Measures for the Women’s Carbon Standard Domain
Example Outcome
Example Indicator
Example Activity
Example Measure
Income and Assets
Increased community funds under women’s control Improved well being and increased productivity Increased knowledge and skills
Increase in Assets (land, trees, equipment, livestock)
Support development of women’s savings and loan initiatives (ex. through seed funds)
Bank accounts in women’s name
Increased discretionary time. Increased sharing of women’s work Increased access to literacy/numeracy, business skills, and agriculture and health skills
Provision of time saving technologies and tools
Numbers of hours/day spent on other activities
Classes or training and site visits to see successful activities of others
Records of classes, certificates of completion, attendees list, etc.
Increased decision making roles for women Increased food security (decrease under and malnutrition) Improved health
Increased representation in governance bodies.
Establish quotas for representation of women in governance bodies
Number of women members, and women’s groups.
Decrease in period of Food insecurity (determined locally)
Provision of technical inputs (including seeds, tools, storage bins, irrigation , etc)
•
Amount of food in storage; amount of food purchased from daily wage payments
Installation of improved services (e.g. cook stoves, methane digesters)
Change in indoor air quality Change in GI diseases,
Time
Education (and Knowledge)
Leadership
Food Security
Health
•
Improved air , water quality
Domain
Example Outcome
Example Indicator
Example Activity
Example Measure
Time
Improved well being and increased productivity
Provision of time saving technologies and tools
Increased discretionary time. Increased sharing of women’s work
Numbers of hours/day spent on other activities
How will the Women’s Carbon Standard be Implemented? • Once projects are defined and underway their outcomes will be monitored and measured (verified) • Resulting social benefit + carbon credits will command a higher market price: “A small project, producing limited credits in a way that brings health, social and economic benefits to the local population, whilst protecting and enhancing the local environment, will command a much higher price than a large scale technology, where the sole benefit is carbon reduction.” Edward Hanrahan, Executive Director, ClimateCare
• WOCAN’s objective is to return as much of the carbon credit revenue as possible back to women’s groups..and to uphold the integrity of the Standard.
The Women’s Carbon Standard • The Women’s Carbon Standard documents (the Standard and Program Guide) are posted on the WCS website. (www.womenscarbon.org) • A link will be available on the WOCAN website (www.wocan.org )
WOCAN and the Women’s Carbon Standard For more information, please contact: Jeannette Gurung Executive Director jeannettegurung@wocan.org WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management) United Center, Level 41, 323 Silom Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand Off: +66 81 871 2508 Cell: +66 87 993 0096