Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Policy

For Winrock, realizing our mission to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources means we demonstrate meaningful commitment to supporting all people at risk of social and economic exclusion. Our mission is supported through our profound awareness of the consideration of a broad range of drivers and factors that can exacerbate exclusion, including gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability and religion; as well as intersectional dimensions within marginalized communities. We strive for a world where all people are safe from harm, where their voices are equally heard and valued, and where they have equitable access and time to devote to education, to their livelihoods, and to their communities.

Winrock commits to addressing gender equity, racial equity and social inclusion across our programming to the greatest extent possible to deliver transformative practices, systemic change, and inclusive decision-making. Our goal is to create and foster equitable opportunities for all people to overcome barriers, contribute to their communities’ development and realize their full rights and potential.

Winrock’s GESI policy serves four primary purposes:

•  Increase integrity and credibility amongst donors, partners and allies as a leader who tangibly delivers against commitments in gender equity, racial equity and social inclusion across Winrock programming; 

•  Continue to strengthen efforts to promote gender equity, racial equity and social inclusion in our organization through dialogue, awareness raising, capacity strengthening and targeted monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) 

•  Hold ourselves accountable through performance monitoring, learning exchanges and reporting to continuously work across programs and build on demonstrated strengths, experiences and lessons learned; and 

•  Report against commitments on Winrock’s accomplishments integrating GESI into programming through internal and external communications with staff, donors and beneficiaries.

Through this policy, Winrock commits to implementing practices that create equal opportunities for people across all offices and provide staff with the awareness, knowledge and tools necessary to implement this policy. This policy reinforces our existing policies on child protection, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination.

As an organization, we recognize and respect individuals of all identities in our work and commit to understanding and responding to their unique needs to maximize equitable benefit. We will commit to ensuring that learning questions are embedded to assess progress towards gender equity and social inclusion outcomes; and that teams document best practices and challenges, creating mechanisms for cross-learning within communities. We also commit to the notion that gender is not strictly binary, and that terms and definitions related to gender and sexuality are diverse and continue to evolve. At Winrock, we understand that rigid gender norms limit people of all genders and sexual orientations by creating and reinforcing assumptions and systems of privilege (sometimes codified in laws and policies) about their recognition in society and the range of roles and opportunities open to them.

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