Description
Kompass is the national mentoring programme of the Fachausschuss Unternehmerinnen of the Deutscher Bauernverband (DBV, German Farmers’ Association). It targets women active in agriculture (from age 20) who want to take on leadership roles on their farms and in the agricultural representation system. The programme runs for one year and combines one-on-one mentoring by experienced women leaders from the sector with training modules on time management, personality development, media work (social media, on-camera training) and networking. Participants are also invited to attend DBV expert committee meetings and parliamentary evenings, building a network of female entrepreneurs from all federal-state farmers’ associations.
Why this matters for Grapes of Change
Kompass matters for Grapes of Change because it tackles a structural driver of gender-based vulnerability: the under-representation of women in decision-making bodies of the agricultural and wine sectors. Although not wine-specific, its design is directly transferable to wine associations and cooperatives, which face the same governance imbalance. By combining individual mentoring with access to formal representation structures, it shows how empowerment translates into institutional influence and not just personal development. The programme also demonstrates how an established sector body can take ownership of gender equality work and embed it as a recurring core activity rather than a one-off project — a model the wine sector can adopt at national and European level.
Lessons learned
Anchoring the programme in the DBV could provide legitimacy and access to relevant governance arenas, which may be relevant for moving women from training contexts into actual decision-making positions. The combination of one-on-one mentoring and structured training modules appears to be a plausible design, with mentors potentially offering role models and informal access while the modules build transferable skills. Continuity across cohorts might allow an alumnae network to emerge over time, which could become a value-add in itself. Aspects that might benefit from further development could include a published impact evaluation, a more explicit linkage to GBV prevention (the current framing remains focused on leadership and entrepreneurship), and possibly sector-specific tracks — for example a dedicated stream for the wine sector, where the governance gap and harassment risks may be particularly visible.