The W+™ : Accelerating

Investments in Women

July 2015

© A

SH

DE

N/M

art

in W

righ

t

W+ creates metrics to measure women’s empowerment within projects. It has created a platform to enable governments, companies and individuals to achieve transparency and effectiveness using a results-based framework to ensure progress.

The W+ quantifies and verifies benefits to women in 6 domains:

Time Income/Assets HealthEducation and Knowledge LeadershipFood Security

© A

ide

n D

ock

ery

$

How it Works

Where will the demand for W+ units come from?

W+ promotes demand for W+ units within contexts of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgets, United Nations Millennium Development and post 2015 Sustainability Development Goals, sustainability of corporate supply chains, gender-related CSR commitments and “women-branding”

• USD 25.3 billion aid from OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members' was earmarked for gender equality in 2009-2010.

• 965 companies have signed onto Global Compact Women’s Empowerment Principles.

• 68 global companies have set gender or women-specific CSR targets (Catalyst).• 85% of consumer/household decisions in Europe and US are made by women-

Women branding.• Increasing number of companies are interested in transparent mechanisms to

improve lives of women producers within their supply chains.• Individuals wishing to support women’s empowerment.

Consultations with Women Stakeholders

Development of Time Method

Baseline Survey

Measurement of Results

Issuance of Units

Direct Payments to

Women

ResultsThe first W+ project measured time savings for 7200 rural Nepalese women who replaced their wood generated stoves with those generated by biogas, relieving them of the need to collect fuel wood from the forest and saved 2.2 hours per day.

Money Flow from Unit Sales

• WOCAN - A women-led US-registered NGO founded in 2004, with network of > 1000 women and men members in 100 countries

• W+ Implementation Team - WOCAN members with expertise in women’s empowerment and results-based finance, to provide assistance to Project Developers

• W+ Standard Committee: Defines procedures and requirements for methods, units, accreditation of verification entities

• W+ Advisory Council: Provides objective input on strategy, marketing and connections to networks

Team and Governing Bodies

Advisory Council

Alyson Slater Associate, CSR ASIA Thailand

David Antonioli Chief Executive Officer, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) USA

Dr. Eija Pehu Gender Advisor, World Bank USA

Edwin Aalders Business Development Manager Climate Change Services, Det Norske Veritas (DNV)

Norway

Ingo Puhl Project Developer, South Pole Carbon Asset Management Thailand

Lee West President, Defensive Portfolio Management (DPM) USA

Leslie Durshinger Founder, Managing Director, Terra Global Capital USA

Liz Allen, Social Accountant & Auditor, Social Auditors Network (SAN) UK

Sarah Hobson Executive Director, New Field Foundation USA

Sylvia Low Manager, Corporate Responsibility Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide

Singapore

Wangu Mutua Deputy Program Director, Swedish Cooperative Centre and Vi Agroforestry

Kenya

Kevin Whitfield Head of Carbon Finance, Nedbank Capital South Africa

Partners

W+ Project Developers: apply methods and drive issuance of units, incl. verification– Operate using W+ Standard rules and procedures, verification by W+ Standard accredited entities

W+ Unit Intermediaries: build demand, transfer and sale units to buyers– using W+ approved registries

Women Beneficiaries– Eligible beneficiaries, identified in W+ project design document

Beneficiary Payment Aggregator: manage payments to women– Identified by W+ developer, according to W+ rules, validated by accredited verification entities