Case Study: W+ Standard
This case study was first published in Paul Hawken’s ReGeneration newsletter. A portion of the original text is reproduced here, with the author’s permission.
Location: Global
Investment type: Investment and philanthropic capital
The W+ Standard is a fungible market unit for the advancement of women. W+ Standard maps out six vital areas: time, income, education and knowledge, leadership, food security and health.
These areas of focus were co-created with rural women from Nepal and Kenya and recognise that regeneration cannot happen in silos.
The metric measured by W+ Standard is a minimum ten per cent improvement in a woman’s life. The assessment employs third-party audits based on a standardised methodology. The certification is verified after a specific initiative or project is completed. Several initiatives began in 2010 and are committed to run for thirty years, representing long-term partnerships. One example is the Kasigau Corridor Community Ranches project in Kenya, which aspires to include all women in the area (nearly 50,000) as beneficiaries. The benefits would not only be direct income from the W+ Standard program, but also improved access to healthcare and family planning services, to water, and agri-business support and education.
The quantifiable improvement in a woman’s life can be called an onset.
The difference between a carbon offset and a woman-led onset is that the onset purchaser is acquiring the credit for an improvement that has already been accomplished.
To expand and meet market demand, Rachel Vestergaard built Empower Co., which connects the W+ Standard to mission-aligned buyers throughout the world. Vestergaard sells these “empowerment units” to foundations, companies and other buyers and directs funds back to the women at the local level, who then determine how to spend the money.
Women are not the investment but the investors, and that's a powerful distinction.
Women-led onsets reinforce that women are co-pilots in this model.
Not surprisingly, the funds are spent primarily on climate resilience and adaptation initiatives.
— Paul Hawken
This case study is an extract from Regenerating Investment in Food and Farming: A Roadmap.