Our Profile
WOCAN builds the leadership of women and men in agriculture and natural resource management for gender equality.
Description
Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN) is a women-led US-based not-for-profit international membership network of women and men professionals that provides expertise to assist agriculture and natural resource management organizations mainstream gender into their programs, projects and internal structures.
Expertise
Our multi-lingual team of Associates, based in various countries of sub-Saharan Africa , South Asia, Europe and North America, and Regional Office Coordinators in West/Central Africa and South Asia provide expertise on integrating gender into sectors of:
• agriculture (crop production, participatory plant breeding, agro-processing, market development, institution building, irrigation, agribusiness, livestock development
• natural resources management (forestry, agroforestry, soil and watershed management
• women's leadership
• involving men for gender equality
• information technology
• monitoring and evaluation
• water management
• community development
• project management (monitoring and evaluation)
• advocacy
Deliverables
• Gender and Organizational Change course, Parts I and II (10 days)
• Women's Leadership course (5 days)
• Men for Gender Equality course (5 days)
• Gender-sensitive Participatory Research for Plant Breeding and NRM (6 days)
• Impact Assessment for Institutional Learning and Change (5 days)
• Advocacy
• Women in Agro-enterprise Development
• Community-initiated Planning for Women
• Outcome Mapping
Experience
Members of our team of Associates have enhanced the gender mainstreaming and leadership capacities of farmers and professionals from local groups to global institutions in Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda,, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Lao PDR.
Training/Capacity Building for Gender Mainstreaming and Leadership
• In Nepal, the Philippines, Senegal and Madagascar for 2 years (in partnership with IFAD), to develop Rural Women's Leadership, to increase the responsiveness of national policies, programs and institutions to the needs and potential of rural women producers and laborers. Training includes leadership and mentoring to prepare women members of producer organizations as leaders and change agents in their organizations; and foster enabling environments within these organizations for gender sensitivity and women's leadership.
• Provided training in a unique parallel skill building course for women's leadership and leadership for men for gender equality for change agents in Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Madagascar and China
• In Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, India, and Nepal for 2 years (in partnership with Heifer, IFAD and CARE), to build Women's Leadership in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management to Support Global Advocacy and Organizational Change for Poverty Alleviation through the development of skills, knowledge and commitment of both women and men to act as facilitators of change within their own organizations and in the global policy arena so that these organizations can more effectively address the needs of poor rural women.
• In India, Nepal, and Lao PDR (in partnership with the CGIAR's Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program) for 3 years to Institutionalize Gender responsive Research and Development through Women's Networks
• In India, Nepal, and Bhutan (in partnership with the CGIAR's Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program) for 3 years, to Build Capacities in Social/Gender Analysis in the Eastern Himalayas.
Partners
WOCAN partners are government and non-governmental agencies that have benefited from WOCAN's capacity building expertise to improve their abilities to implement gender responsive programs for women farmers and to themselves integrate gender into their structures and cultures. They include:
• IFAD India
• Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)
• Department of Agriculture, State of Meghalaya, India
• Dept for Horticulture and Cash Crop Development of Sikkim, India
• ECOHIMAL, Sikkim, India
• Renewable Natural Resources Research Center, Royal Government of Bhutan Wengkhar, Bhutan
• Crop Development Directorate of the Department of Agriculture, Nepal
• Department of Agriculture, Nepal
• Department of Forests, Nepal
• CARE International Nepal
• Institute of Forests, Nepal
• Northeast Network, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
• Phongsaly Provincial Agricultural and Forestry Office, Lao PDR
• CARE Lao PDR
• Heifer International in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania
• CIFOR Central African Region
• Forestry Commission, Ministry of Lands and Forestry, Ghana
• Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Borno State (PROSAB), Nigeria
• Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension in Borno State, Nigeria
• National Program of Participative Development (PNDP), Cameroon
Clients
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• Heifer International
• CARE Nepal
• Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program of the CGIAR
• International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
• UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• Virginia Tech
• World Bank (Agriculture and Rural Development)
• Meridian Institute
• Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
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 over 700 members in 83 countries; about 1/3 of these are in Sub-Saharan Africa, one third in Asia, and one third in North America, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, Oceania and n Near East and North Africa.
Contact Information
Jeannette Gurung, PhD
Director
1775 K Street, NW
Suite 410
Washington, DC. 20006, USA
Phone: (202) 331-9099
Fax: (202) 331-9366
E-Mail: jeannettegurung@wocan.org
Web Site. www.wocan.org
Offices
Secretariat
IFAD
1775 K Street, NW
Suite 410
Washington, DC. 20006, USA
Phone: 202-331-9099
West/Central African region
CIFOR Central Africa Regional Office
P.O Box 2008 Messa -Yaounde
Cameroon
Phone: 237-22227451/49
South Asian region
Coordinator: Kanchan Lama
Tikhedewal
Lalitpur-14
GPO 8975
EPC2506
Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: 977-1-5550656
Mobile: 977-98510-61384
Southern Africa region
Pretoria, South Africa
Related Files
Organizational profile (62 kB)
