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23.1. Ensure full and equitable participation by women and youth, in all decisions affecting species conservation.
Primary tools and resources
Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP)
CLP is an international capacity building programme that supports young conservationists in to undertake applied biodiversity projects. Each year, CLP calls for project applications in low- and middle-income countries and some high-income islands in the Caribbean and Pacific. Funding is awarded to teams of early-career conservationists to conduct scientific research, promote pro-conservation attitudes, and deliver tangible results to conserve and manage biodiversity.
There are three grant levels. Starting with a Future Conservationist Award, teams are supported to undertake small-scale research and awareness-raising projects. Then through Follow-up and Leadership awards, teams can implement larger projects over a longer period of time and implement deliver practical solutions while learning more complex decision-making, communication, and leadership skills. As part of the award, winning teams can access expertise from within the partner organisations and via our global Alumni Network, which includes past award-winners.
Programme staff members are also available to advise on project implementation, including guidance required during the planning and team training stages. Each year CLP runs a two-week Conservation Management & Leadership Course for recent award winners. CLP is a partnership of three leading biodiversity conservation organisations, BirdLife International, Fauna & Flora International, and Wildlife Conservation Society.
IUCN Principle on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment
This Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy reaffirms and further strengthens IUCN’s commitment to realising gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment and puts into place requirements for embedding a gender-responsive approach into its Programme and project portfolio. Another publication Gender equality for greener and bluer futures: why women’s leadership matters for realising environmental goals includes new IUCN data on the number of women leading environmental ministries, compared with previous data. It also highlights data on why gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential for global goals on achieving an inclusive and sustainable future.
Other tools and resources
Gender and IWT toolkit
This toolkit provides practical guidance on gender integration in illegal wildlife trade. It details a step-by-step approach to conduct and integrate gender analysis into IWT work. You can work through the toolkit at your own pace, completing each step to move to the next. You can refer to this website or the full report at any time.
Zoological Society of London — EDGE Fellowships
One of the most effective ways in which we work to secure the future of EDGE species is by strengthening, supporting, and diversifying conservation leadership. The EDGE Fellowship is a 28-month fellowship for local early-career conservationists from lower- and middle-income countries. We equip these emerging conservation leaders—EDGE Fellows—with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities required to advance their careers and spearhead effective conservation efforts for the world’s most unique and extraordinary species.
Each fellowship involves a comprehensive programme of support and professional development opportunities comprising:
- Six weeks of training in person: A four-week Conservation Tools Course in the focal region and an advanced two-week Conservation Impact Course in the UK, plus access to additional online training;
- A grant of at least £10,000 for project implementation: The opportunity to fully manage your own budget plus dedicated support to leverage additional funding; and
- Continuous mentorship and access to training and coaching opportunities with ZSL and our partners: Wrap around mentorship and access to unique training and coaching opportunities with ZSL and our partners.
You may be eligible for an EDGE Fellowship if your work focuses on an EDGE species included on the 2024 curated list, you are an early career conservationist with less than ten years of paid experience, and you are a national of the country where the proposed focal species occurs.
IUCN Climate Change Gender Action Plan
Climate Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs) build on a country’s national development and climate change policy or strategy, and identify gender-specific issues in each priority sector. The participatory, multi-stakeholder methodology includes creating action plans to enhance mitigation and resilience for women and men throughout the country.
Having developed the world’s first gender-responsive national strategies and roadmaps on climate change, IUCN has published its CGAP methodology and approach, containing GAPs from around the world, detailed case studies, roadmaps and more. As the title suggests, implementation of international agreements in individual countries is an art, not a science. There are diverse factors and challenges at play, including political will, adequate finance, and complex governance arrangements. The art of implementation is a journey toward the realisation of important ideas, a bridging of the gap between our aspirations and our achievements, and a continuous learning curve.
ASAP Women in Conservation Leadership Programme
The IUCN SSC Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP) is a partnership platform with the mission of halting species extinctions in Southeast Asia. In 2021 we launched the ASAP Women in Conservation Leadership Programme.
Whilst the inclusion, active participation, and voice of women is linked with improved conservation outcomes, women in conservation often face gender related work place challenges. Gender bias and harassment can negatively impact confidence, erode an individual’s ability to reach their full potential, and block or hinder career advancement and entry into senior positions. We believe that tackling these challenges and empowering women conservationists in this region is critical for long-term, sustainable and successful conservation of ASAP species.
Through the ASAP Women in Conservation Leadership Programme, we are providing opportunities for shared learning and knowledge with targeted training to strengthen leadership skills. The ASAP programme provides opportunities for experienced and aspiring women conservation managers and leaders. Enhanced leadership qualities can help shift organisational mindsets and question traditional hierarchical structures, and ultimately leads to more effective work and greater impact on the ground.
The programme brings together participants from across the region, and is providing opportunities for structured learning alongside peer-to-peer learning and networking, providing a support mechanism beyond the leadership programme. We also work with each individual to help champion and support their work.
Gender Action Plan
At their twelfth meeting held in October 2014, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) welcomed the 2015-2020 Gender Plan of Action prepared by the Secretariat. The plan updates the 2008 Gender Plan of Action under the Convention, to align with the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets. This plan includes possible actions for Parties to undertake in implementing the Convention, as well as a framework of actions for the Secretariat to integrate gender into its work. Parties are requested to report on actions undertaken to implement the Gender Plan of Action.
Four Strategic Objectives are key for integrating gender in the implementation of the Convention:
- Integrate a gender perspective
- Promote gender equality
- Demonstrate the benefits of integrating gender
- Increase the effectiveness of implementation efforts
CBD Gender and Biodiversity Tools and Guidelines
Gender considerations are relevant to the achievement of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in multi-faceted ways. Pervasive inequalities shape policies, plans, actions, values, and attitudes related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity resources, and can be an influential factor in decision-making around access and the sharing of benefits derived. The 2015-2020 Gender Plan of Action provides a mandate to address gender considerations, emphasizing the importance of compiling knowledge and building capacity to identify the impact of conservation and sustainable use policies and programs on relations between men and women and to reduce gender inequalities.
Solutions and case studies
Mobilising finance in the shea value chain
A shea value chain created around a protected areas landscape in Ghana led to greater finance flowing into community and conservation. Mole National Park is a biodiverse ecosystem, and Ghana’s largest protected area. Communities surrounding the Park benefit from its natural resources, but were using them unsustainably. In 2008, A Rocha Ghana and IUCN Netherlands Committee implemented a Community Resource Management Area (CREMA), a governance and management framework created by the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, to empower local communities for natural resource management. Inhabitants designed a shared plan for the landscape that simultaneously addresses conservation and socio-economic wellbeing, including building a shea value chain. Implementing organisations engaged with the Savannah Food Company to become a business partner with the CREMAs, particularly women’s groups who collect shea nuts, and help create a fund to support conservation action in the community.
Gobernanza y herbolaria por mujeres de la Reserva de la Biosfera Selva el Ocote
La buena gobernanza depende de una gestión eficaz en el aprovechamiento de los recursos a través de los diferentes usos de las plantas. El uso ceremonial, ritual o medicinal es parte del proceso de toma de decisiones en el manejo del territorio y de los ecosistemas en la Reserva de la Biósfera Selva El Ocote. Aquí, las mujeres han tenido un rol fundamental en el rescate y transmisión de los saberes de la herbolaria, uno de los principales recursos terapéuticos en el medio rural. Asimismo, se ha promovido la participación e intercambio de experiencias entre hombres, mujeres, jóvenes y adultos mayores, reconstruyendo y rescatando el conocimiento tradicional medicinal e histórico de las propias comunidades y revalorizando los servicios ambientales.
Se ha logrado replicar este conocimiento, lo que ha redundado en un gran apoyo social y económico, especialmente en este tiempo tan difícil que nos toca vivir, el de la pandemia del COVID-19.
Mama Fatuma and the seaweed farming development in the south coast of Kenya
Mama Fatuma, the hard working middle aged woman living in Kibuyuni Village of Kwale County embodies the success of seaweed farming on the Kenyan coast. In a village where the predominant economic activity of fishing is a preserve of the men, Mama Fatuma encouraged fellow women to embark on seaweed farming as an alternative economic activity to wean them off over-reliance on their men folk and to enable them contribute to the family income. Following research trials and support from various sectors, seaweed farming is now earning Kibuyuni Village over USD 11,000 from the initial USD 2,000 in 2012 and beginning to thrive in various places along the south coast of Kenya and improving livelihoods through provision of additional income for families to pay school fees, meet medical costs and diversify the economy. It has also generated interest in mariculture and marine science generally among the youth in coastal Kenya.
Integrating Value chain in Sustainable Solid Waste management in Kwale and Mombasa Counties, Kenya
The Centre for Environmental Justice and Development (CEJAD)aims to combat plastic and waste pollution by promoting sustainable solid management through public education on impacts of plastics to the environment and demonstration of BATs/BEPs such as source separation of waste, reuse, recycling and recovery as well value chain efficiency.
The project seeks to conduct the following activities:
- Equipping the women artisans with machinery, tools, and equipment for making sculptures and items out of plastic waste.
- Training women artisans on product development and packaging.
- Establishing a pilot waste segregation at source and management system for recovery, reuse, and recycle of plastic and other waste.
- Training women artisans on marketing and how to maintain market linkages.
- Undertaking a market research for their products.