Cultivating Women’s Leadership

Research demonstrates that women-led community enterprises have the potential to transform gender relationships at both community and societal levels while also delivering superior outcomes in terms of equity, sustainability, and institutional effectiveness. IoFE’s women-focused leadership development approach recognises that women possess intimate knowledge of forest resources, strong social networks, and collaborative governance practices—assets that are essential for effective natural resource management.

Systematic identification of potential leaders focuses on women who already demonstrate influence within community structures, offering formal recognition and capacity enhancement to expand their leadership roles. Legal training addresses the fundamental constraint of limited awareness of rights and legal protections, empowering women with knowledge of land tenure laws, forest regulations, and safeguards against domestic violence and economic exploitation.

Capacity-building interventions provide foundational skills in numeracy, literacy, and digital technology—recognising these as prerequisites for meaningful participation in modern forest economies and enterprise management. Programmes go beyond basic competencies to encompass business management, financial planning, and market analysis—skills necessary for leading complex enterprises rather than merely participating in them.

Exposure visits create peer learning networks that showcase successful models of women's leadership in forest governance and enterprise development, fostering innovation and horizontal knowledge transfer. These interventions collectively strengthen women's agency while building institutional capacity for inclusive forest governance that benefits entire communities rather than extractive elites.