The Global Standard for Measuring Women’s Empowerment About W+ Standard
W+ is the first international standard that makes women’s contributions visible, measurable, and financially valuable. By embedding gender-responsive metrics into climate and development projects, W+ ensures women are not left behind in the global shift to sustainability.
What We Do
The W+ Standard certifies women’s empowerment outcomes in projects across energy, forestry, agriculture, water, health, and more. By measuring change in six vital domains — Time, Income & Assets, Knowledge & Education, Health, Food Security, and Leadership — we create a framework that delivers transparency and credibility.
When results are independently verified, they generate W+ Credits: tradable units that corporates, governments, and institutions can purchase to meet sustainability goals. At least 20% of the revenue from every credit flows directly back to women’s groups, ensuring immediate and lasting benefits for communities.
How W+ Works
The W+ Standard transforms climate and development projects into engines of women’s empowerment. By embedding gender-responsive metrics into project design, W+ creates a clear pathway from measurement to verification to financial contribution.
Measurement of Women’s Empowerment Outcomes
Participating projects use the W+ Standard to design activities and assess changes in at least one of six domains of women’s empowerment:
Time savings
Income & Assets
Education & Knowledge
Leadership and decision-making power
Food security
Health and well-being
Baseline and endline data are collected using standardized indicators. These indicators are designed to ensure comparability across geographies while maintaining cultural and contextual relevance.
All data is subject to independent third-party verification to ensure methodological integrity and eliminate bias.
Generation of Certified W+ Units
Verified outcomes are translated into W+ credits through a standardized formula:
A W+ credit is a 10 % of change in the life of one woman in the measurement period. This quantification approach ensures that credits reflect material and verifiable shifts in women’s lives, rather than simply the number of women reached or anecdotal progress. The W+ credit becomes a tradable representation of gendered impact, suitable for inclusion in ESG disclosures (SDG 5), impact reports, or performance-based financing mechanisms.
Monetization Through Market Instruments
W+ Credits can be traded across global sustainability markets from voluntary carbon markets that value gender co-benefits, to SDG-aligned investments and innovative finance platforms. Every credit is backed by verifiable data, giving buyers confidence that their funds deliver measurable progress for women.
Supporting Women, Strengthening Communities
This redistribution mechanism ensures that benefits flow beyond measurement and into locally determined adaptation, livelihood development, and resilience-building activities.
The W+ Domains
Women’s empowerment isn’t abstract — it’s lived daily through time, income, knowledge, health, food, and leadership, the six domains that define how W+ measures impact.
Time Savings
Time Back, Freedom Gained
Reducing the hours women spend on unpaid labor like gathering fuel and water.
Health
Well-Being as a Human Right
Measuring improvements in physical, mental, and reproductive well-being.
Education & Knowledge
Learning That Unlocks Opportunity
Expanding opportunities for training, skills, and formal education.
Food Security
Nutritious Food, Every Single Day
Ensuring women have reliable access to nutritious food.
Income & Assets
Building Wealth, Security, and Independence
Tracking women’s access to earnings, land, and financial resources.
Leadership
Women Leading Change in Communities
Capturing women’s representation in decision-making roles and community leadership.
Project Validation
Aligning Intent With Structure
Every project starts with good intentions. The W+ Standard ensures those intentions translate into measurable, verifiable outcomes for women and their communities. Through a structured process of monitoring and independent validation, W+ turns your work into trusted results that funders, corporates, and global partners can stand behind.
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Independent Verification.
Certifying Outcomes, Not Activities
For W+ certification, project developers are required to have their project results independently verified by an accredited Verifier. This independent verification is critical to ensuring the integrity of the projects registered with the W+ Program.
Make a Difference
Whether you’re interested in developing a project, supporting women’s empowerment through W+ Credits, or diving deeper into our knowledge hub, there are many ways to get involved. Choose the path that fits you best and help us drive measurable impact for women and communities worldwide.
Develop a Project
Turn your initiative into a certified W+ Project. Follow a rigorous process—select domains, measure results, and undergo independent verification.
Buy Credits
Invest in impact. Purchasing W+ Credits allows you to meet climate commitments and SDG goals while directly funding women’s empowerment.
Discover our Resources
By purchasing directly, you help accelerate implementation, scale gender-responsive activities, and create long-term community impact.