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Day: March 8, 2022

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International Women’s Day: Malavika’s Story

“Every single day I have worked on water stewardship is an achievement for me since I have directly or indirectly contributed to bettering lives, even if it is at a small scale.”

Malavika Gopinath, Corporate Sustainability Specialist, ITC Ltd.

We spoke with Malavika Gopinath, a Corporate Sustainability Specialist at ITC Ltd. about her role, water stewardship, and what International Women’s Day means to her in 2022.

How would you describe your role?

I work as a corporate sustainability specialist in ITC which means that I work on understanding the company’s sustainability risks and opportunities- whether it’s on water, climate change, plastic waste management or any other material issue and try to address them with scientific solutions. I also oversee the company’s water stewardship journey with the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS).

If I am in the office (or working from home), I am generally reading articles, researching on sustainability issues, preparing documents for communication, or carrying out administrative tasks. If I am out in the field, I end up spending most of my time interacting with stakeholders, understanding how things are on the ground, what is working and not working, and what needs to be changed. Field days help me put the kind of work I do into perspective — it’s the balance between field work and office days which helps me make sense of our work on sustainability.

What drew you to working in water?

I wanted to work in the field of sustainability since I was eleven. I started working on sustainability during my bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering on a project related to drinking water quality. It made so much sense that I could work on something that can directly impact so many people and their lives. That project made me realise I wanted to align my sustainability journey on water security and agriculture.

What does Water Stewardship mean to you?

From a company’s standpoint – water stewardship is a way of responsibly using water, while ensuring equitable access and long-term security of all stakeholders in your catchment. I still consider myself to be at the learning phase of my water stewardship journey. I still have a long way to go, but I am confident that it will be a wonderful experience.

How have you found working with the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) and the AWS Standard?

I initially found the AWS Standard a little intimidating to work with – but once I got past the initial apprehension and started looking at it from the eyes of an implementor, things started making sense. I like that the Standard works for every possible geography, addresses every kind of stakeholder and their concerns, and is not restrictive in terms of what should be done and what should not be done. Instead, it focuses on being on the right journey with regards to water stewardship.

What achievement are you most proud of when it comes to water?

Every single day I have worked on water stewardship is an achievement for me since I have directly or indirectly contributed to bettering lives, even if it is at a small scale. However, obtaining the AWS Platinum Certification for our PSPD Kovai site, the very first in India, was definitely a proud moment.

What does International Women’s Day (IWD) mean to you?

I believe that every day should be Women’s Day. Celebrating women as what they are – irrespective of whether they are ambitious and career driven or as a homemaker or a small business owner or an artist – instead of expecting them to be a certain way due to societal expectations. We should be empowering women to explore their own dreams and chart their own journeys without judgement.

IWD 2022 asks us to: “Celebrate Women’s Achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.” Have there been any instances where you have had to overcome gender bias in your role, or support others to do so?

There have been too many instances to recount. The most common one being that I have often felt my voice is not being heard in male dominated meeting rooms. These situations used to give me severe impostor syndrome, which took me awhile to overcome. Therefore, when I find young girls that are struggling with this issue, I tell them people may speak a lot or speak louder than you, but that does not necessarily mean that what they are saying is right or they know more or better. If you have conviction in your thoughts, make yourself heard.

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International Women’s Day: Ursula’s Story

“If we want real changes, I think one of the most important things we can do is to better educate people on what equality is.”

Ursula Baertl Espinoza, Corporate Affairs Manager, Agricola Chapi

Ursula Baertl Espinoza is the Corporate Affairs Manager at Agricola Chapi, an agricultural producer based in Peru. To mark International Women’s Day 2022, we spoke with Ursula about her role, water stewardship, and her experiences working in with AWS.

How would you describe your role?

As the Corporate Affairs Manager, my role is to plan and execute sustainable development programs. Some of these programs include environmental education, how to care for the soil on our farms, and water management. In addition, I manage programs that benefit our workers’ families through the NGO Horizonte. We work with 22 schools where we have organic gardens to help provide children fresh produce to complement the food offered by the state’s meal plan. These gardens have also become spaces for children to learn.

My days are usually busy with meetings to manage and build upon these programs. I also spend time monitoring and evaluating the projects we develop, both in the company’s facilities and for our community. These projects focus on improvements in water management, soil care programs that seek to improve soil moisture and therefore irrigate more effectively, evaluation of the water needs of the surrounding villages, and looking for solutions with the state for these issues.

A lot of my time is invested in spreading understanding of what sustainability is. Many people think sustainability is only about achieving impacts, however it is also about developing long-term relationships with different stakeholders, especially communities. This element of sustainability is often difficult to explain to clients, entrepreneurs, and policymakers. It is even more difficult to implement.

What drew you to working in water in particular?

In our business, agriculture, water is one of the most important, if not the most important, resources. Because of this, our company puts a lot of effort into managing it. However, water is not only valuable as a resource for our business. It is also important for our community, so our focus is to manage water based on the needs of the community as well.

How have you found working with the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) and the AWS Standard?

Being part of AWS has been a great experience, which has led us to better understand our water management, not just within our own operations, but as part of the wider catchment. The tools from AWS strengthen and validate our vision of what we have established as the Chapi Agroecosystem, including mapping the actors and allies at each stage of our water cycle. With AWS tools, we’ve also been able to review and improve our internal policies and programs to help us manage water more effectively, as well as engage in more complex programs that benefit our community more broadly.

However, I believe that nothing is going to really change if we don’t work together. AWS gives us the opportunity to work with allies to better accomplish our water stewardship goals.

What stage would you say you are at in your water stewardship journey?

I would consider our company to be somewhere in the middle of our journey towards water stewardship. We have a very good understanding of how to manage our water and have some clear ideas about the water-related problems we face and their solutions. While we have made progress, we need more concrete actions, both by ourselves and in a joint effort with other stakeholders to continue that progress.

International Women’s Day 2022 asks us to: “Celebrate women’s achievements. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.” Have there been any instances where you have had to overcome gender bias in your role, or support others to do so?

Being a woman in a high position of a company is always a challenge. You are always questioned if you are where you are supposed to be.

Within my team, we have created an environment that considers what both mothers and fathers need to take care of their families, without losing focus on our tasks and objectives. We help each other and have the understanding that we might need to manage time differently. Working from home has helped with this a lot. I would prefer that work is finished late than have a mother who is nervous because her little one is not being attended to

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

It is a day to remember how much we have accomplished in women’s rights and to communicate the long journey we still have ahead. If we want real changes, I think one of the most important things we can do is to better educate people on what equality is.

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