Introduction
Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE) is a grassroots non-profit organization that envisions a safe, healthy, and just environment for everyone.
Our mission is to advance constructive environmental ideals and practices by empowering people, especially women and youth, to take advantage of opportunities in natural resource stewardship.
Our goal is to promote women’s representation, active participation, and leadership in natural resource governance.
WISE recognizes that until gender equality is at the center of it all, we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice, and all people will not have equal rights and opportunities.
Goal
The goal of this Gender Equality Policy is to promote gender equality and empower all women and girls through our programs.
Purpose
In the context of sustainable development, WISE will consistently mainstream gender issues into project frameworks and implementation.
We recognize:
- Gender roles and relations shape access to decisions, resources, and opportunities.
- Climate change exacerbates existing gender inequalities.
- Projects are more sustainable and equitable when gender considerations are integrated.
- Women and vulnerable communities must be effectively engaged in decisions that affect them.
The purpose of this Policy is to:
- Promote natural resource stewardship and climate change interventions through a comprehensive gender approach.
- Enhance gender equality within our governance structure and operations.
- Ensure gender equality informs our funding, operations, and impacts.
- Contribute to reducing climate change, exacerbating gender gaps in social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities.
Guiding Principles
At WISE, gender equality means recognizing that men and women often have different needs, priorities, constraints, and aspirations. To ensure fairness, we will:
- Assess the needs of both women and men in project planning and implementation.
- Build staff capacity to understand gender roles and responsibilities.
- Design gender-sensitive projects based on research and experience.
- Strive for equitable economic and social benefits for women and men.
- Collect and analyze data to understand gendered impacts.
- Document and share lessons learned regarding gender equality.
- Engage men and boys in support of women’s empowerment.
- Partner with women’s rights organizations, civil society, government, and donors.
- Recruit and retain staff committed to gender equality.
- Build internal skills on gender equality and diversity.
- Regularly report on our gender equality progress.
Strategic Areas of Intervention
Our programs focus on:
- Awareness & Education on women’s rights within communities.
- Personal Development through empowerment, leadership education, and financial literacy.
- Entrepreneurship & Enterprise Development including revolving loans and business support.
- Peace & Conflict Resolution, including participation in mediation and negotiation processes.
- Leadership Development through coaching and mentoring to unleash women’s potential for sustainability leadership.
Conclusion
This policy complements other WISE standards and will be reviewed and updated as required.
All WISE employees are required to adhere to this policy and other related policies.