Gender and Youth
We work to mainstream youth strategies, gender responsive and gender transformative action in all our activities and programmes
Gender, age-based discrimination – along with other forms of marginalisation, such as race, class, and ability – are deeply intertwined with the global challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, and food security. Women and youth, particularly those from marginalised groups, face significant and disproportionate barriers to accessing, owning, and controlling forest landscape resources, and are often excluded from governance decisions, policy development, and participation in management and productive activities. This exclusion not only perpetuates their exc but it undermines the resilience of the socio-ecological system as a whole, hindering the effectiveness and long-term success of solutions to global landscape challenges.
Join us for a youth-led conversation about how traditional knowledge strengthens youth's connection to their territories and safeguards biodiversity at CDB COP16 on October, 24th.
In Suriname a group of Saamaka women are a shining example of what empowered women can achieve when they come together and work towards a common goal. They have transformed themselves from a small group of women with a vision into a powerful force for change in their community.
Youth empowerment is crucial to encourage creative thinking and to ensure that they are equipped to participate in decision making processes to find local solutions to address the challenges in their communities and landscapes.
In a groundbreaking move, as part of MoMo4C, Tropenbos Ghana has launched a Waste-to-Energy pilot project in the Sefwi Wiawso Juaboso Bia (SWJB) landscape with an all-women cocoa cooperative. By turning cocoa waste into a valuable resource, this model aims to create new avenues for income generation, livelihood diversification, and long-term sustainability in the landscape, particularly for women and young smallholder farmers.
After participating in a youth exchange in June 2023 youth leaders from the Amazonia in Bolivia, Colombia and Suriname proposed three strategic actions to be included in programmes in the region. The actions relate to knowledge, inclusion and incidence, and well-being.
A law in Ghana stipulates that all naturally growing trees are owned by the state. In 2022, female cocoa farmers collaborated with Tropenbos Ghana to draw attention to the adverse effects of this law on their livelihoods.
In 2017, Tropenbos Indonesia initiated a partnership between the village of Laman Satong in West Kalimantan and the oil palm company PT Kayong Agro Lestari, which owns the nearby oil palm plantation.
For local communities, the forest is not only a source of life (reservoir of resources, climate, fresh air, livelihoods, clean water etc.) nor a simple place to live, it is life. But forests now a days are more than ever threatened. In DR Congo forests are increasingly the subject of monopolization/grabbing by “big men”, often educated and urban, to the detriment of local populations.
“We met, we were happy to meet. It was the first time we worked together only with women, and it was the first time we were in charge” said Alexandra Gutiérrez Piranga, a Korebaju indigenous woman when explaining how, through a process of building confidence and skills, they are on track for formulating projects for their own well-being and the well-being of their communities.
During 2021 the Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF) has been helping Indigenous women and youth to develop their own forest-based businesses. This has resulted not only in detailed business proposals, but has also provided people with inspiration, confidence and courage to pursue their dreams within their territories.
The new planting season is bringing new opportunities for indigenous Dayak women in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. Alpina Rupina and friends from Simpang Dua have started to use sustainable farming practices that they learned from farmer field schools, are protecting the forest, and are now developing business ideas so they can become economically independent.
The forests of Guarayos provide more than half of Bolivia’s wood supply. But this is threatened by overexploitation, while younger people have been leaving to find work elsewhere. This video shows how a programme supports indigenous youth to be more aware of the value of their forests, the economic opportunities available, and to build the needed skills to make the most of these. The result – more income for them and their communities, less migration, and improved sustainable governance of local forests.