^{A woman working within a shea nursery with shea seedlings in Ghana (Photo credit: W+ Standard)}

To illustrate, in Ghana, the W+ Standard was applied within shea parkland restoration activities and identified significant improvements for over 6,000 women. Under these project activities, women are restoring land, strengthening cooperatives, accessing international markets, and increasing incomes through higher-value products. Their work is not only changing landscapes—it’s also creating positive impacts in women’s empowerment, livelihoods and well-being. 

^{Young shea tree seedlings (Photo credit: Global Shea Alliance)}

W+ results revealed that women’s membership in cooperatives has strengthened unity and collective confidence, enabling them to act together, assert their value, and engage more effectively with buyers and markets. Over nine in 10 surveyed women reported income increases, where top uses of additional income included consumption goods, education and health care. Moreover, more than half of the surveyed women reinvested in their businesses, indicating a thoughtful balance between welfare and the productive use of funds.

Just as significant as these numbers, are the perspectives of the women behind them. A woman beneficiary of Suguru Nye Boobu Cooperative reflected, “I now save up to GHS 200 per month through the VSLAs, [village savings and loans association] compared to nothing before. With these earnings, I can pay my children’s school fees, buy new clothes, and hire ploughing services.”

Another woman beneficiary highlights, “we now feel confident in our production skills and believe we can compete with any producer in the market. We have improved skills to consistently produce high-quality shea butter. Even if our packaging is not yet as advanced as some products on the market, the quality of our butter is unmatched.”

^{A focus group discussion with women of shea cooperatives in Ghana (Photo credit: Global Shea Alliance)}

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, the W+ results are just as inspiring. They showed that project efforts on a National Forum of Rural Women and development of environmental, forestal, and territorial plans (EFTPs) for the country's Indigenous Peoples led to significant gains in women’s leadership, agency, and influence.

^{W+ field visit in Costa Rica (Photo credit: Nielsen Pérez)}

For example, the project significantly advanced inclusive decision-making by addressing and reducing gender-, ethnicity-, and class-based exclusion. Prior to the project, 56% of women surveyed identified this exclusion as “most challenging,” with rural women reporting particularly high levels (68%). Post-project, only 7% of women surveyed rated it as “most challenging,” and many responses moved into intermediate or lower challenge categories. This suggests that while exclusionary dynamics persist, women increasingly perceive themselves as having tools, legitimacy, or collective backing to contest or navigate these practices.

^{W+ focus group discussion with Indigenous and rural women in Costa Rica (Photo credit: Nielsen Pérez)}

Again, the women’s voices behind this data speak louder than the number themselves.

Reflecting on the experience of developing the EFTP on the Indigenous territory of Bajo Chirripó, Luz Tapia Aguilar highlights, “In the case of women, we have undergone very valuable processes that have allowed us to get to know women from different places and strengthen projects led by women. For us, it has been a very meaningful experience, as the project has supported our culture, our economy and our daily lives.”

 ^{W+ focus group discussion with Indigenous and rural women in Costa Rica (Photo credit: Nielsen Pérez)}

^{W+ focus group discussion with Indigenous and rural women in Costa Rica (Photo credit: Nielsen Pérez)}

W+ has helped UN-REDD to contribute to the deepening recognition of women not just as beneficiaries but as drivers of climate and forest solutions, reinforcing their leadership and rights within REDD+ and other nature-based programs.

Through these W+ pilot efforts in both Ghana and Costa Rica, on International Women’s Day, UN‑REDD, seeks to advance “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”. Demonstrating women’s contributions in REDD+ not only helps to strengthen efforts to curb forest loss but also advance justice by ensuring women’s rights and fair benefits, and recognition of their essential roles in forest protection. All a necessity in the fight to make the world a healthier and more resilient place.