W+ brochure includes the introduction of the W+ Standard, the benefits of applying the W+ Standard and steps of applying the standard.

1. The W+ Standard TM
Accelerating Investment in Women

2. The Rationale
In much of the world, women comprise
the majority of farmers and natural
resource managers, yet are often
excluded from decision-making and do
not have an equal access to resources.
Strengthening women’s empowerment
will provide environmental, social and
economic benefits for climate change
adaptation and mitigation, resilience
and food security.
Governments, development agencies,
philanthropists and investors are
increasingly funding women’s
empowerment/ gender equality.
However, what is lacking is a robust
means of measuring these outcomes in
a way that can be simply
communicated.
Women Organizing for Change in
Agriculture & NRM (WOCAN), a
leader in women’s empowerment in
agriculture and natural resource
management recognized the need and
developed the W+ Standard to
measure the impact of women’s
empowerment and accelerate
investments in women- particularly
women’s groups - to address persistent
gaps in their access to resources and
capital and scale up solutions to
climate change, food security and
poverty.
The W+ Standard is a unique certification label that endorses projects that create
increased social and economic benefits for women participating in economic
development or environment projects, including those that provide renewable
energy technologies, time and labor saving devices, forest and agriculture activities,
and employment opportunities.
The W+ is an innovative
framework to quantify and
monetize the social capital
created by women, to
recognize and reward
their contributions to
sustainable environments
and communities.
The W+ provides metrics to
measure, quantify and verify
outcomes within existing and new
projects in 6 domains
Introducing the W+ Standard

3. Benefits of Applying the W+ Standard
W+ produces quantified women-benefit
units that contribute towards Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), Climate
Financing or Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) targets
W+ enables governments, companies,
philanthropists and investors to achieve
transparency and effectiveness using a
results-based framework to ensure
progress towards women’s empowerment
that is measured in units.
Purchase of the W+ units provide a
credible and efficient way for public and
private sector entities to achieve their
women’s empowerment/ gender targets.
Companies can use the W+ label to
indicate their commitment to women’s
empowerment to consumers of their
products.
W+ provides an opportunities to go
beyond ‘do no harm’ and be part of
significant positive changes in the lives of
women.
Benefits to Women’s Groups
Two types of benefits for women: those from the project activities required
for W+ Standard and direct payments .
Through direct payments to women in project communities the W+
Standard can catalyze new actions to reduce poverty, drudgery and food
insecurity, improved health and education and provide channels for
women’s leadership in the community
By certifying projects that are environment and women- friendly, the W+
Standard has the potential to attract more attention and investments into
the development of affordable women friendly technologies (time and
energy-saving) and the creation of ‘green’ jobs and enterprises.

4. How it works
Development of
Project Design
Document
Baseline
survey
Measurement
of Results
Verification
Issuance of
units
Direct
payments
to women
Consultations
with women
Stakeholders
Existing or new projects should assess how the W+ can be integrated into
their project. Any type of economic development or environment project is
potentially applicable: forest, renewable energy, clean water, agriculture,
etc.
Outcomes are monitored and measured as per the Methods indicators
Outcomes are verified by independent W+ accredited auditors.
Projects must develop a plan to implement women’s empowerment
activities and measure progress in at least one of the six domains
Baseline surveys are conducted using the W+ Methods specific to selected
domains.
Projects that have obtained satisfactory results will be issued W+
certificates for a specific number of units to achieve goals for women’s
empowerment.
The W+ will also provide a new revenue stream to women and their groups
through direct payment mechanisms required by the Standard.
These units can also be purchased by individuals and corporations to
demonstrate their support for women’s empowerment.

5. W+ Governing Body
W+ Advisory Council provides objective input on strategy, marketing and
connections to networks. Council members are associated with the following
organizations:
W+ Standard Committee is an independent body that is a subset of the Advisory
Council, composed of specialists to provide expertise, guidance and decisions on
standard revisions, methodology approval, rule changes and appeals.
The W+ Standard’s membership application
to ISEAL Alliance is under review. The ISEAL
Alliance is the global membership
association for sustainability standards.
Clients and Partners
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI),
Netherlands
• Terra Global Capital, USA
• Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), USA
• Social Auditors Network (SAN), UK
• World Bank, USA
• Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Norway
• Hilton Worldwide, Singapore
• South Pole Group, Switzerland
• Swedish Cooperative Centre and Vi
Agroforestry, Kenya
• Defensive Portfolio Management
(DPM), USA
• Nedbank Capital, South Africa

6. Getting Involved
To Apply the W+ Standard
• WOCAN’s W+ Team can provide technical services to
• Assess feasibility of W+ application
• Development of the project Design Document (PDD)
• Assist in implementation
• Measure results
To Support Women’s Empowerment:
• Purchase W+ Units at www.wplus.org/w-projects and through W+ unit
sellers
• Invest in a future projects by purchasing advance W+ units, or invest in a
fund that to provides capital for such projects.
• Partner with WOCAN to support the development of the W+ Standard
and provide seed funding through tax deductible contributions to
WOCAN
For more information visit www.wplus.org or contact wplus@wocan.org
W+ Applications as of December 2015
Biogas Digester Program in
Nepal – measured and verified
increase in women’s discretionary
time of 2.26 hours/day for 2400
women
Biogas Digester Program in
Indonesia Developed for HIVOS –
measured increase in women’s
discretionary time of 1.1 hours/day
for 4550 women
Improved Cook stove project in
Honduras for HIVOS- measured
increase in women’s discretionary
time
Aquaculture supply chain in
Indonesia for OXFAM GB ,WWF
and companies
More applications planned for
agriculture, agro forestry, water and
food related projects in Africa and
Asia.
Version 1.1 January 2016
Cover Photo: © ASHDEN/Martin Wright