WESEGO is a coalition of Women, Women’s Groups and Organizations working to promote Gender Equality and empower women by increasing their participation in decision making processes and in extractive sector governance. WESEGO is working to promote gender equality and women’s rights in natural resource governance.

By recognizing the critical role that women can and should play in extractive governance and raising awareness of the many barriers that continue to stand in their way, WESEGO seeks to advance opportunities for women’s leadership in a sector where they often gain least for example through employment opportunities and bear the greatest cost of negative social and environmental impacts. WESEGO uses a multi-stakeholder approach to empower women and improve natural resource governance. WESEGO disseminates information on who is being given the right to mine or drill, the terms of those contracts, how much money companies pay and governments receive for natural resources, and what other impacts on women such as environmental and social effects and whether these effects are being monitored and managed.

1. WESEGO is working to ensure there is both male and female representation on decision-making bodies. Once this is done can result in more informed decision making on the future of the sector. The impact of the resource sector on other indicators of development, such as health, employment and education, is then likely to be more significant.
2. WESEGO is working to ensure that policies on the equal participation of women in the extractive sector are improved. This can be achieved if policies are grounded in data and discussed by a diverse range of stakeholders. Gender transparency can help promote equal employment opportunities and more equal access to the economic benefits that extractive operations create.
3. To promote gender transparency in the extractive sector. This helps ensure all citizens benefit from extractive sector resources. Targeted dissemination of data to women and women’s group helps promote more inclusive debate on the management, impact and benefits of extractive sector activities.
4. To collaborate with Companies involved in the extractive sector to promote and protect the rights of women. Recognizing that women’s participation is necessary for the achievement of sustainable development, WESEGO is working with extractives industry companies to increase their commitment to integrating gender equality and women’s economic empowerment into aspects of their operations.