Proforest’s mission is to support the transition to agricultural commodity production and sourcing that delivers positive social and environmental outcomes for people and planet: respecting human rights and the advancement of gender equality is central to this mission.

Proforest recognizes that women and sexual and gender minorities are groups particularly vulnerable to social inequalities. We also acknowledge the existence of more genders than the binary concepts of masculine or feminine and that they all deserve equal rights and opportunities.

Our specific vision for gender equality is that our workplaces and our projects and programmes promote equal opportunities and benefits for people of all genders, uphold the rights of women and men, and of those that do not identify as either, and support the empowerment of women and others who may be disadvantaged.

Proforest is committed to:

1. Protecting women and men and those who do not identify as either from discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation, violence, intimidation, retaliation and other denial of the basic human rights due to their sex, their gender identity or their sexual orientation.
2. Building awareness both internally and externally about the need for gender equality in natural resources management and sourcing.
3. As a minimum building gender sensitive strategies and approaches into our projects and programmes: from design through implementation and Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL). Where possible, including gender transformative approaches to our work.
4. Engaging and coordinating with partners, governments, clients and other stakeholders to promote and support effective and impactful ways to promote gender equality.
5. Promoting balanced gender representation at all levels and all entities in the Proforest Group; supporting women and sexual and gender minorities into senior decision-making roles.
6. Monitoring, recording and sharing our experiences, outcomes and impacts in relation to gender equality mainstreaming. We will seek to communicate internally and externally on examples of our work.
7. More information on how we implement our commitment to gender equality can be found in our Gender Equality Strategy.