Program areas at WOCAN
W+ Standard Technical Assistance: WOCAN provided technical assistance to projects applying the W+ Standard in Cambodia, Kenya, Brazil, India and Cameroon. Nepal. Expenses were for consultants' fees and travel to project sites, registration and verification by a third party auditor. W+ Standard was revised and updated through a public consultation and with the assistance of the W+ Advisory Council. The W+ Coordinator held meetings with over 35 organizations interested to apply the W+ Standard. Regular meetings were held with the Voluntary Carbon Standard to align reporting requirements and with other carbon and biodiversity standards to explore integration.
Research: WOCAN completed a paper on Scaling Gender and Climate Investment, published by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the World Bank. It also conducted the field research in Nepal for the Case Study: Women's Leadership Outcomes within Nepal's Community Forestry Program using the W+ Standard for the World Bank PROGREEN program. Three research initiatives were undertaken under the Scale Impact for Gender Equality and Climate Outcomes initiative supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: 1. research in South Asia and Eastern Africa to identify needs of rural women's organizations and enterprises working on climate mitigation and/or adaptation and women's empowerment for the Report of Mapping Women's Organizations, Women-led Enterprises and Support Institutions for Assessing the Landscape for Gender and Climate; 2. Market development to understand the demand for W+ credits by buyers and investors; 3.Map of potential funders and investors for gender and climate, and research on their specific interests (geography, project type, etc.)
Training: For the World Bank's PROGREEN program, WOCAN conducted a webinar, provided training in the W+ Standard for country level partners in Nepal and developed an online training course on the W+ Standard available to gender and Monitoring and Evaluation experts around the world. WOCAN also provided a consultant for the Gender Mainstreaming in Building and Policy Outreach Activities of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) for the Nordic Consulting Group.
Outreach and Marketing: WOCAN held various events to share knowledge about the W+ Standard, build the market demand for W+ credits and speak on gender and climate finance to international audiences. WOCAN was invited to speak at events of the Global Environment Facility Conference, New York Climate Week and the COP28 by the World Bank, African Development Bank, IETA and the GEF. This program includes fees of marketing consultant and Knowledge Management staff to prepare materials, update and maintain 2 websites, and share news with social media and monthly digests, blog posts and podcasts