A Theory of change linking gender equity with improved conservation governance and impact: a case study of two community conservancies in Kenya

This working theory of change traces the causal pathways linking improvements in gender equity with improved natural resource governance, which in turn can lead to an improvement in conservation outcomes.

It was inspired by and builds upon that developed by Leisher et al. (2017) which looks at how the participation of women in natural resource management groups can result in improved resource governance and conservation of local forests and fisheries. Here, we have added two further dimensions of equity: recognition of knowledge, rights, and values, and distribution of costs and benefits. Integrating recognition and distribution as dimensions of equity in this work, builds on wider conservation research and a growing body of work, which has found this lens to be useful, particularly in relation to research on equitable governance (Franks and Schreckenberg, 2016).

The data we have gathered shows that changes in participation, recognition, and distribution are mutually reinforcing. For example, recognising women’s time burdens can shift household labour, freeing them to engage more in conservation and other activities. As their contributions are valued, women gain confidence to pursue leadership roles, further influencing how costs and benefits are shared.