Réseau Associates Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference
Réseau Associates work all over the world; however, these women are originally from countries in the Global South. This is the differentiator for the Associates with respect to all the other communities. It is a complementary network actively supporting the Global South.
1. Purpose
Réseau aims to amplify the voices of professional women working in the global geospatial arena primarily from Africa, Asia, and Latin America (often referred to as the Global South), and the Middle East, who face unique intersectional challenges related to race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and socioeconomic status. Although not all women are based in their country of origin, they provide personal insights into issues that people face in the Global South. The Associates bring together a vast range of skills, experience, and capability to address such issues.
By highlighting their perspectives, we seek to draw attention to these issues and promote a more inclusive worldview and drive change. The goal is to encourage a strong community of such Global South geospatial practitioners to work together with counterparts from the Global North. This includes women practitioners from other world regions who feel strongly about issues and want to work collaboratively towards common goals with the Global South.
This means providing a platform for a diverse group of women from different regions whose work focuses on critical challenges in the Global South, namely those working in the geospatial field to share their stories, experiences, and perspectives, thereby amplifying their voices, and fostering a more inclusive geospatial community.
It can also mean promoting networking and collaboration opportunities among network members, fostering partnerships and joint initiatives to advance geospatial projects and initiatives in the Global South.
This approach also aims to increase the visibility and representation of these women in leadership positions and international conversations in the geospatial arena. We believe that diverse teams generate innovative ideas, and we plan to collaborate with existing community groups (Geochicas, GeoLatinas, Ladies of Landsat, Sisters of SAR, Women in Copernicus, Women in Geospatial, Women in GIS etc.) to ensure a balanced approach.
2. Activities
All Associates are voluntary members of the Réseau community, and they are participating to gain benefits associated with networking and gaining more exposure for their work and possibly enhancing their career development.
a) Associates are invited to provide an initial blog post upon joining the community and can contribute additional posts in coordination with the communication activities of Réseau.
b) Associates can engage in policy advocacy efforts to promote gender equality and the inclusion of women in geospatial decision making processes, aiming to influence relevant policies at various levels.
c) Associates can learn from existing good practice in ongoing mentoring programmes; these experiences can be reused to connect experienced professionals with early-career women in the geospatial field, providing guidance, support, and professional development opportunities.
d) Associates can potentially benefit from long-term job vacancies, support mentoring and career planning, as well as short-term consulting opportunities.
No Associate is obliged to do anything, there are no contractually binding terms.
3. Expected Outcomes
It is hoped that all participants gain greater exposure for their work and their skills and experience as a practitioner. This could lead to numerous outcomes. For example,
a) Invitations to contribute to papers, books, events etc.
b) Consideration for leadership positions, e.g., on steering committees and boards of Reseau and its partner organisations
c) Possibilities for consulting or any other engagements on their area of expertise
d) Networking with other practitioners from the Global South
e) Influence policy development and direction in the geospatial industry
f) Participation in monthly associate catch-up meetings
4. Domains
The goal is to work across nature and climate with meaningful and practical solutions to help with adaptation, mitigation, and nature-based solutions. All Réseau Associates can contribute to some element of the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution through personal or professional work.
A major element of this work is to raise awareness, understanding and action linked to these domains so we can help individuals and communities deliver change. As the network grows, a systems thinking approach will be applied to make use of skills and expertise across different thematic areas and domains.
5. Membership
The membership consists of only professional women at this stage, but others are welcome to support the Associates as allies.
The current process to apply as a member involves an online discussion with the CEO of Réseau, normally as part of a mentoring session. An application form will be introduced at a suitable time, i.e., when the number of applicants grows too big.
6. Aspirations
The goal is to build a global community led by professional geospatial women from the Global South. The Réseau team and partners will be responsible for developing the initial stages and where appropriate funding and other resources will be sought to develop the community further.