The international women's leadership program Homeward Bound (HB), promoted by ACCIONA, announced today the destination of its 2025 expedition: the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. 

It is a new phase in this project, which had opted for Antarctica as the final destination of the program in its eight previous editions.  

Like Antarctica, the Serengeti National Park is an ecosystem of great environmental and landscape value, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change’s impact and biodiversity loss. The HB expedition will also draw attention to the interdependence between local communities and their natural environment.

The HB9 expedition will take place at the end of 2025 and will involve more than a hundred women who are already being trained in leadership skills and creating a positive impact. 

The previous expedition (HB8) ended in mid-February and included 124 female scientists and technology experts. During the trip, the expedition members witnessed the effects of climate change first-hand, while they participated in workshops, training sessions, interdisciplinary working groups, etc.   

Eight Spaniards participated in this edition: Edith Guedella Bustamante, an environmental biologist in charge of Sustainability in ACCIONA's Construction division; María González Fajardo, a civil engineer at ACCIONA; Marta Crespo, an engineer and Head of Photovoltaic Technology at ACCIONA Energía; Alba Fernández Sanlés, a molecular biologist; Paula Moraga Serrano, professor of Statistics at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Rosa Castizo, director of the “La Rábida” Observatory for Sustainable Development and Climate Change; Anna González Manjón, a molecular biologist; and Mercedes Martín, a meteorologist.     

LEGACY

Homeward Bound, which was created in 2017 and already trained 775 women of 69 nationalities, aims to create a network of 10,000 global female leaders by 2036. Thirty of these women are Spanish. 

Currently, the network includes women from 45 different disciplines (within science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine), strengthening the diversity of perspectives and expertise. 

The program’s participants include women who currently hold high-level positions as ministers, ambassadors and decision-makers in multilateral organizations linked to the preservation of the planet. 

In addition, several HB participants have contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and collaborated with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP25. 

The program also had a significant impact on the visibility of women in science and environmental leadership through strategic collaborations, such as the proposal for the preservation of Marine Protected Areas in Antarctica carried out by 60 HB participants, which was expounded in a Nature journal study in 2021. 

Participants from various HB editions have also developed documents aimed at promoting best practices in sustainability, such as The Green Book and the Carbon Offset Program.

Homeward Bound has been supported by ACCIONA since 2018, which promotes women’s leadership and climate action with an innovative and sustainable approach.

ACCIONA encourages the full inclusion of women in the sectors in which it operates. The company is part of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which includes companies around the world that have demonstrated greater transparency and better performance in gender equality. It is also involved in the UN Global Compact's Women's Empowerment Principles initiative to promote gender equality in the workplace. Moreover, the company has gender-based recruitment programs that prioritize the detection of female talent.