Damiana

How We Are Growing Damiana

Step 1: Test the Hypothesis Using Focus Group Methodology

Our hypothesis was: Women dedicated to planetary healing (Eco-femmes) could benefit immensely from being held in a deeply nourishing support system.

Our goal was to have an intimate conversation about their work and ways to support them with 20-30 eco-femmes from around the world by Spring 2025. We have achieved that. We will continue to add to our understanding of needs as we offer other services and conduct virtual gatherings. 

How we ran them: In early 2025, we held 4, 90 minute focus groups and 2 interviews with 17 women devoted to earth stewardship.  We asked all our colleagues for names of women around the globe doing a wide range of important eco-work. We sent these women warm invitations to join when they could, advising them of the questions in advance. We created a safe structured and interpersonal virtual space with no more than 5 eco-participants.

Several of my female professional facilitator colleagues volunteered to provide tech assistance, facilitate or ensure data was captured accurately.*

We used a Miro collaborative white board to capture data. All meetings were recorded. After the focus groups and interviews were completed, the facilitator team met in small groups several times to merge common themes. The results are noted below.    

Who Participated: Women from all generations ranging in age from 27-78 years.  These women lived and worked in 6 continents and 18 different areas.* See map below.

What is their eco-work and expertise:

It is widely multi-disciplinary and includes such areas as: 

• Climate Justice Policy
• Agroforestry
• Eco Villages
• Education
• Decolonizing Mapping 
• River Purification
• Frontline Community Solutions 
• Land claims with Indigenous hunters
• Climate Change and Gender Violence
• Regenerative Finance & Business
• Art & Culture

The four questions we asked were: 

• What is working well?
• What are your biggest challenges?
• What support would you like to receive?
• What can you offer back to the Damiana ecosystem?

*Thanks to my facilitator colleagues; Eileen Pippins, Elaine Chan, Sunny Walker, Rangineh Azimzadeh, Rosanna Von Sacken,  Huiying You, Lyn Wong, Farah Ismail, Kathleen Rice, Grace Tan.

Here the aggregated data for the four questions on the Miro Whiteboard.

What We Discovered

Challenges they named consistently: 

• TIRED AND/OR BURNT OUT
• FEELING ALONE OR ISOLATED
• VOICES ARE NOT HEARD AND OUR STORIES ARE NOT SHARED
• FEELING POWERLESS IN THE CURRENT SYSTEM
• DISMISSED IN MALE-DOMINANT FIELDS
• FINANCIAL RESOURCES ARE LIMITED
• DOUBTING WHETHER WE ARE THE “RIGHT ONE” TO DO IT
• DOUBTING WHETHER WE ARE BEING EFFECTIVE
• NOT FEELING SAFE TO EXPRESS EMOTION OR BE VULNERABLE

Desires/Asks that emerged frequently: 

• SUPPORT, MENTORSHIP AND/OR COMMUNITY
• SPACE TO SHARE EXPERIENCES
• TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS WHO CAN RELATE
• TO DEVELOP SKILLS AND LEADERSHIP
• ACCESS TO RESOURCES, FINANCIAL AND OTHERWISE 

The Details: Specific "Asks" They Made:

Three main areas came up over and over in terms of what would make their work more meaningful, impactful, easier and inspiring. They asked for capacity-building and knowledge, emotional, relational and physical support and, structural and resource support. See details below.

1. Capacity Building & Knowledge (Mind, Strategic, Technical, Creative)

• Skill Development: Facilitation skills, leadership for climate crises, community engagement, time/priority management.
• Strategic Thinking: Navigating power structures, funding alignment, defining success, scaling work.
• Technical expertise: Access to specialists; toolkits; digital platforms for sharing knowledge and solutions.
• Creative tools: Storytelling, new cultural languages for eco-work, ways to express creativity and use arts to connect with others.
• Knowledge sharing: Best practices in NGOs, gender-climate intersection, frameworks for grassroots engagement.

2. Emotional, Relational and Physical Support (Emotional, Relational, Spiritual, Motivational)

• Safe Spaces: Emotional processing, grief support, shared vulnerability, mentorship, peer connection.
• Community: Intergenerational exchange, strong networks, friendships, communities of practice.
• Spiritual Nourishment: Inner work, adventure, joy, embodying values, rest.
• Motivation & Energy: Celebrating wins, inspiration from peers, boundary-setting, keeping energy sustainable.
  
• Physical Wellbeing: Rest, recovery, shared physical activity like hikes, burnout prevention.

3. Structural & Resource Support (Financial, Promotion/Credibility)

• Financial Support: Fair compensation, funding for grassroots initiatives, reducing unpaid labor expectations.
• Visibility & Credibility: Amplifying women's work, addressing inequities in credit and recognition, support in advocacy and storytelling, credibility in patriarchal systems.

Here is close up of the data from all focus groups/interviews for the question: What support would you like to receive?

 A Few Quotes from Focus Group Participants

• "More and more people are paying attention to sustainability issues, especially the role played by women in them."
• "A generation of us will require a mental nimbleness to be able to get out of this"
• "Been able to learn from so many different communities from island farmers to graphic designers (was amazing) - I am aspiring to connect these communities."
• "In the midst of it, how do I take care of me?  Knowing when it's slow, it's still going on - how do I keep energy up and not be overwhelmed by it all?"