Our Profile

WOCAN builds the leadership of women in agriculture and natural resource management for organizational transformation for gender equality through an innovative approach of partnering motivated professional and rural women.

Description

WOCAN is an international membership network of women and men professionals experienced in sustainable agriculture and natural resource management committed to building the leadership capacities of poor rural women for agricultural development and natural resource management in ways that improve their livelihoods.

Strategy

WOCAN's approach is to build capacities of "brokers" - women and men staff of agriculture and natural resource management organizations - to act as change agents by strengthening their accountability to rural women and building environments that enable gender equality within agriculture and NRM organizations. Through the extensive network of members, WOCAN also builds capacities of rural women by providing training in leadership and agro-enterprise development and links these women to mentors and supporters in agriculture and NRM service providing organizations.

Guiding Principles

  • We believe that professional women can use their education, skills, resources, and positions to lead processes of change that bring increased levels of resources and commitment to community women's groups engaged in agriculture and natural resource management.
  • We believe that professional women working together, across organizations and country boundaries, can collectively share knowledge and skills to influence their organizations and nations to bring about change for gender equality.
  • We believe that all women can become leaders.
  • We believe that men play a critical role in supporting women leaders, both within communities and their organizations.
  • We believe that a network of women already working within organizations, coupled with a supportive network of women and men who act as trainers, mentors, advisors and allies, can build a dynamic force for change.

Partnership

WOCAN partners are government and non-governmental agencies that seek to improve their abilities to implement gender responsive programs for women farmers and to themselves integrate gender into their structures and cultures.

Experience

Projects:

  • implemented (in partnership with the CGIAR's Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program) a 3 year project entitled Institutionalizing Gender responsive Research and Development through Women's Networks in India, Nepal, and Lao PDR with funding from IDRC and CIDA
  • implemented Women's Leadership in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management to Support Global and Organizational Change for Poverty Alleviation IFAD grant to develop the skills, knowledge and commitment of women to act as facilitators of change within their own organizations and in the global policy arena for the institutionalization of gender perspectives in natural resource management (NRM)-related organizations so that these organizations can more effectively address the needs of poor rural women.
  • implements a 2 year project with Heifer International in Cameroon, Ghana, Nepal, and Eastern Africa to Build Partnerships for Capacity Building and Advocacy (IFAD funds to expand this project are expected in Jan. 2008).

Papers:

  • two Thematic Notes for the World Bank's Gender and Agricultural Livelihoods Sourcebook on 1) Decentralization and Community-driven Development and 2) Gender, Self-help Groups and Farmer Organizations
  • Gender and Desertification: A Review of IFAD Field Experiences for presentation at the UN for the International Year of Drought and Desertification

Advocacy:

  • leads the Major Group WOMEN within the Commission for Sustainable Development of the UN, the UN Forum on Forests and the FAO-led Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Initiative, and Chairs the Adelboden Group for Mountain Development

Structure

501 (c) (3) US-based international NGO with an international Board of Directors and offices in Asia and Africa

Members

Founded in 2003, WOCAN has grown rapidly to include 489 members in 79 countries; 167 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 152 in Asia, 73 in North America, 51 in Europe, 19 in Latin America/Caribbean, 8 in Oceania and 19 in Near East and North Africa.

Annual Budget

$300,000

Principal Donors

Heifer International, International Fund for Agricultural Development, New Field Foundation, International Development Research Centre, Canadian International Development Agency, UN Food and Agriculture Organization

Leadership

Jeannette Gurung, PhD, Director Martha Hirpa (Heifer International) Chair, Board of Directors

Contact Information

Phone: (607) 319-0347
Fax: (607) 319-0347
E-Mail: jeannettegurung@wocan.org
Web Site: www.wocan.org

Offices

3 (Ithaca, NY, Headquarters; Yaounde, Cameroon for West/Central Africa; Kathmandu, Nepal for South Asia)

Staff

About 12, including 3 Coordinators of West/Central Africa and 2 of S.Asia office; team of 6 gender and leadership trainers; a monitoring and evaluation expert; an advocacy coordinator; an agro-enterprise expert and various other members who are experts in agriculture, forestry, livestock management that are called on as needed.