Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN)

Introduction

Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN) is a global network of women and men professionals in agriculture and natural resource management who are committed to organizational change for gender equality and environmentally sustainable development. Initiated in Rome in March 2004, the organizations aims to: 
1. empower women professionals engaged in agriculture and natural resource management sectors by improving the capabilities and providing them with opportunities to share information and experiences globally;
2. establish and support platforms for women to build alliances so that they may achieve higher levels of energy and commitment for the dual causes of rural women’s empowerment and environmental sustainability;
3. transform programmes and organizations by strengthening the position of women professionals engaged in agriculture, forestry, and other relevant sectors within their organizations and increasing their effectiveness and service to rural women.

 WOCAN has individual members – both men and women – and organizational members in over 69 countries around the world who agree to the following guiding principles:

• Environmental sustainability and poverty eradication requires all organizations at all levels to fully recognize and support the roles and leadership potential of women as farmers, environmental managers, professionals, decision makers, and leaders so as to achieve an equal distribution of responsibilities, benefits, and decision making between women and men in the management of natural resources.
• By working strategically and collaboratively, women professionals can assist their organizations to become more gender sensitive and thus better achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
• Women professionals in NRM require capacity building in order to enable them to act as effective agents for gender equality.
• Strong networking will build partnerships and alliances, and impact the policies and practices of existing organizations working at the policy, research, planning and implementation levels in NRM.
• The impact of the network will be significantly enhanced through the spaces provided for civil society participation of the Major Group ‘women’ within ECOSOC and FAO bodies of the UN for women’s voices to be heard.
• The success of the network is dependent on teamwork, open communication, trust, awareness, reflection and support to one other.
• Members encourage the commitment and support of men to the vision and work of the organization.

Membership

Since the launch of WOCAN and call for members on January 1, 2005, 120 women and 22 men of 69 countries have been accepted as members, with the numbers increasing daily. Of these, 51 members are from Africa, 68 are from Asia, 5 are from the Pacific region, 8 from Latin America, 9 from the Middle East, 24 from Europe, 40 from North America, and 7 from international organizations. These members are comprised of trainers, policy advisers, researcher/academics, students, extension agents, heads of government departments or divisions, consultants, directors/coordinators, donor representatives, and staff of international organizations with backgrounds in agriculture,  forestry, livestock, fisheries, anthropology, sociology, economics, environmental sciences, development studies, geography and other disciplines. They are engaged in research, training/teaching, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, management, advocacy, leadership/network building, and fundraising.

They have varying levels of gender awareness and skills; many women members state that they are the only females in their organizations or departments, others wish to learn about gender and organizational change from their association with WOCAN. Many have formal gender responsibilities in their organizations and universities, and wish to join a network to learn and share more about gender and NRM. Membership

Members have offered their voluntary contributions as trainers, consultants, researchers, fund raisers, proposal writers, hosts for meetings, time to act as focal points, sources of expertise on gender relations in their countries, etc. A typical example is a contribution specified by a Kenyan agriculturalist to “provide knowledge and professional expertise to other women who might not have the same in projects they are working in.” This demonstrates the spirit of mentoring that WOCAN wishes to foster amongst communities of professional women working in agriculture and NRM throughout the world.

Activities

The objective of WOCAN is to develop the skills, knowledge and commitment of women to act as facilitators of change within their own organizations and beyond for the institutionalization of gender perspectives in NRM-related organizations. This is proposed through capacity building, outreach, advocacy, action research/pilot projects, and the development of WOCAN itself as a model organization. 

Components of this include capacity building of leadership abilities; sponsorship for women to participate in organized events; support for action research, pilot projects and the documentation of best practices to meet the needs of poor rural women; advocacy for causes related to gender equality and NRM at local, national, regional and international levels and partnerships at various levels of society.

Contact [email protected] for more information.