Women learning alliances for greening manufacturing industries in developing countries

Enough attention has not been given to the role of women in the introduction of cleaner technologies in industries. Cleaner Production (CP) initiatives, also known as pollution prevention, in developing countries are usually oriented to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) where these are the most common and important industries for employment generation. Commonly, manufacturing MSMEs are in hands of men. However, an all-women leadership alliance is helping transform Colombia’s highly polluting industries into cleaner, greener businesses. Leading women from academia, NGOs, utility companies, public organizations and large and small industries came together to create the first “Women & CP learning alliance”, through which women promote partnerships to foster clean production practices. All women have one thing in common – they have already led successful cleaner production projects in various industries. For example, a woman from the electroplating industry, who eliminated the use of cyanide, decreased the use of heavy metals, and reused water, joined the alliance. A woman from a sugar cane sub-product enterprise (trapiche panelero), who eliminated the use of burning tires to run the artisanal oven by switching to an energy-efficient oven, became part of the women’s CP alliance. In our experience, women who lead CP projects commonly go beyond the goals of the projects and the fulfilment of the environmental legislation. Women are completely committed to CP and willing to share their experiences and knowledge with others. Thus, the women & CP alliance has been effectively leading and participating in green industries initiatives in Colombia in priority industries, such as the electroplating, food production, and construction industries. Women actively support environmental training initiatives and the development of CP proposals and projects. In the construction value chain in Valle del Cauca (Colombia), for one large construction firm and 10 of its suppliers, women led the change to: use photovoltaic energy for lighting and pumping rainwater; put proper construction waste recycling programs in place; reuse the water from processes to cut bricks; reuse construction material waste in road improvements; replace wood forms in all the construction processes; replace motorcycles with bicycles for supervising construction projects; and reduce paper consumption in administrative processes. By training the construction industries staff, the women led significant technological changes in the construction processes of the large and small enterprises in order to reduce pollution and address climate change in an industrial activity with a large environmental footprint. Women’s alliance work in fighting climate change has been awarded at national and international level. Women have demonstrated they have an important role to play in greening manufacturing industries, especially MSMEs in developing countries. MSMEs commonly have difficulties to access environmental knowledge and technologies. Women’s learning alliances around CP have demonstrated to be an effective methodology to support and encourage more polluting industries to make the shift to cleaner production. Women learning networks are key to transform polluting industries into cleaner businesses.