Maria Lee, WOCAN Core Associate Europe, participated in the Asia-Europe Environment Forum Conference ‘Sustainable Development Goals for Asia and Europe: Delivery Options for the 2030 Agenda’ in Stockholm on 19-20 October.
The conference jointly organized by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the Stockholm Environment Institute brought together policy makers and development experts from Europe and Asia involved in the Sustainable Development Goals process. Maria presented the W+ Standard in a special session on Gender Equality and highlighted the importance to use metrics that value and account for women’s contribution to the SDGs. Understanding the important role of women needs to be translated into adequate investments and support to enable them to express their full potential. The W+ Standard is a concrete answer to the need of increasing accountability, rewarding projects that have positive impacts on women’s empowerment– in particular agriculture and environment related-, and increasing the flow of financial resources to women’s organizations.