ENTRETANTOS FOUNDATION
In the search for and research of successul models of governance in terms of participation and participation, we have worked in this area in two ways: in relation to the current state of the communes, addressing their functioning, structure, conservation and uses and promoting netwoks, reflections and spaces for their conservation and strengthening, and another in relation to governance, taking as the axis of our work the following aspects.
Our idea about what commons -in general- means to us, was reflected in the booklet “Governance and participation in commons”
In the other hand we have maintained our participation and involvement as a partner in Iniciativa Comunales recognised by the ICCA Consortium as an entity that facilitates the location and registration of the Territories of Life of the Spanish state in its International Register. We have played an active role in the birth of the association and currently in the working group for the improvement and systematisation of the organisation’s governance.
As a result of this previous work and the contact with land managers (particularly women), it led us to want to investigate more deeply about the role of women in the government of communal areas.
In 2020 our booklet ‘Gender, governance and commons through the eyes of women‘ was published, a first approach to the Participatory Action Research that we started in 2019, gathering the testimony and voice of women from different parts of the Spanish State about the situation of these commons, their governance, their conservation, their challenges and potential.
Since then, we continue working with groups of women communards and women linked to communal groups from other areas (research, technical work in communal groups, mayors…), we have created with them the network “Somos Comuneras” – “We are Women Commoners”- looking for actions to strengthen their role on commonlands governance and management. Some of the results are: Design and dissemination of informative materials on what communal groups are, their validity, existence and potential at present; Webinars on thematic issues like legal aspects of commonlands; Sensitization through podcasts, videos, blog; 4 Annual meetings to enhance the group cohesion
In 2024 we have developed an exploratory research on academic deficiencies-needs in gender and governance in Spain and a first identification of needs on this topic. The idea is to continue developing deeper through scientific research and participatory-action research proposals and ideas to improve the governance of commonlands from a gender perspective.