Women speak up during World Water Week in Stockholm
Women for Water Partnership was well represented at the Stockholm Water Week in August 2011. Three WfWP steering committee members were active during several sessions. Apart from that, they took part in bilateral conversations with partners and in networking activities.
Chair Alice Bouman-Dentener, representing WfWP in its capacity as partner of UN Water, participated in the sessions of UN Water and spoke on the subject of food security during the world water day session. >> jump to the Chair's key messages to take home
During the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) session, Kusum Athukorala reported on the WWAP Advisory Group on Gender Equality, its input to mainstreaming gender equality in the WWDR4 (The fourth World Water Development Report), and other WWAP activities. >> jump to Kusum Athukorala's report and advice
Treasurer Lesha Witmer participated in the panel on water stewardship, organised by the European Water Partnership (EWP) and was one of the moderators for the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) multi-stakeholder forum that discussed the future program of the EUWI 2012-2015. >> jump to Lesha Witmer's statements on urban water stewardship
WfWP Chair Ms Bouman-Dentener gave the UN Water members and partners strong messages to take home:
Tapping into the potential of the ‘Bottom Billion’
“Tap into the potential of the ‘Bottom Billon’”, WfWP's Chair stated. “The prime challenge for us as Women for Water is: involving this immense segment of the world population that has no adequate access to water and sanitation, food and energy for their daily needs. Many of them live in rural areas. With increased urban migration, the majority of them are women. From experience, we know that these women, if getting out of their isolated position and when being empowered to take development into their own hands, become self-sufficient. Because of our extensive networks that span the globe, but equally connect national to community level, the Women’s Major Group has an important role to play in reaching out to and involving the ‘Bottom Billion’.”
Shifting from principles to practice
“Women’s participation and gender are not the same”, Ms Bouman-Dentener continued. “But of course, when truly involving women on an equal footing, their views and concerns are taking into account and gender is mainstreamed in the process”.
The shift from principles to practice has only just started. Taking the Rio process that started in 1992 as a baseline, we are only just gearing up towards implementation of the agreements and action plans. Real implementation requires a different mindset and a different set of actors: going from government to governance. Diversity and inclusion are key. This will only work if there is a re-allocation of available funds to reflect the different roles and to make sure that all key actors – including the Major Group Women – can indeed participate on an equal footing.
Making progress visible
Making progress visible is a challenge. This is increasingly so when diversity and inclusion is practiced and when addressing the local level. No two communities are the same. As WfWP, we have impressive narrative data, but we are struggling still to quantify our qualitative data in a way that satisfies the donors. This is where we would like to see innovative approaches to happen using modern IT. We are currently exploring the possibilities. An important goal is to solve the lack of gender disaggregated data at the same time.
Ms Athukorala, member of the advisory group on gender for the next World Water Development Report (WWDR4), highlighted the importance of the Report and described the process of involving a gender equality group in its production. She recommended this as a best practice to be adopted by other agencies in their activities.
The UN Water meeting also decided on the themes for World Water Day in 2011 and beyond: 2012 ‘Water & Food Security’ and 2013 ‘Water and Cooperation’ – in the framework of the UN Year of Water Cooperation.
Ms Witmer was one of the panelist during the discussions on urban water stewardship. She stressed the importance of citizens getting aware of issues on water in their own environment and being heard by government officials and politicians. Water Stewardship in urban surroundings looks at all three components of sustainability and can be a great contribution to better management of our water resource. “Improving coordination between decision-makers in cities and institutions for implementation of the Water Framework Directive (e.g. river basin management boards) is essential”, Ms Witmer stated. “The main principles for good water management apart from participation of all stakeholders”, she said, “are the 5R’s: Re-design, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-allocate. Water stewardship will look at all of these components.”
Women for Water Partnership was well represented at the Stockholm Water Week in August 2011. Three WfWP steering committee members were active during several sessions. Apart from that, they took part in bilateral conversations with partners and in networking activities.
Chair Alice Bouman-Dentener, representing WfWP in its capacity as partner of UN Water, participated in the sessions of UN Water and spoke on the subject of food security during the world water day session. >> jump to the Chair's key messages to take home
During the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) session, Kusum Athukorala reported on the WWAP Advisory Group on Gender Equality, its input to mainstreaming gender equality in the WWDR4 (The fourth World Water Development Report), and other WWAP activities. >> jump to Kusum Athukorala's report and advice
Treasurer Lesha Witmer participated in the panel on water stewardship, organised by the European Water Partnership (EWP) and was one of the moderators for the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) multi-stakeholder forum that discussed the future program of the EUWI 2012-2015. >> jump to Lesha Witmer's statements on urban water stewardship
WfWP Chair Ms Bouman-Dentener gave the UN Water members and partners strong messages to take home:
Tapping into the potential of the ‘Bottom Billion’
“Tap into the potential of the ‘Bottom Billon’”, WfWP's Chair stated. “The prime challenge for us as Women for Water is: involving this immense segment of the world population that has no adequate access to water and sanitation, food and energy for their daily needs. Many of them live in rural areas. With increased urban migration, the majority of them are women. From experience, we know that these women, if getting out of their isolated position and when being empowered to take development into their own hands, become self-sufficient. Because of our extensive networks that span the globe, but equally connect national to community level, the Women’s Major Group has an important role to play in reaching out to and involving the ‘Bottom Billion’.”
Shifting from principles to practice
“Women’s participation and gender are not the same”, Ms Bouman-Dentener continued. “But of course, when truly involving women on an equal footing, their views and concerns are taking into account and gender is mainstreamed in the process”.
The shift from principles to practice has only just started. Taking the Rio process that started in 1992 as a baseline, we are only just gearing up towards implementation of the agreements and action plans. Real implementation requires a different mindset and a different set of actors: going from government to governance. Diversity and inclusion are key. This will only work if there is a re-allocation of available funds to reflect the different roles and to make sure that all key actors – including the Major Group Women – can indeed participate on an equal footing.
Making progress visible
Making progress visible is a challenge. This is increasingly so when diversity and inclusion is practiced and when addressing the local level. No two communities are the same. As WfWP, we have impressive narrative data, but we are struggling still to quantify our qualitative data in a way that satisfies the donors. This is where we would like to see innovative approaches to happen using modern IT. We are currently exploring the possibilities. An important goal is to solve the lack of gender disaggregated data at the same time.
Ms Athukorala, member of the advisory group on gender for the next World Water Development Report (WWDR4), highlighted the importance of the Report and described the process of involving a gender equality group in its production. She recommended this as a best practice to be adopted by other agencies in their activities.
The UN Water meeting also decided on the themes for World Water Day in 2011 and beyond: 2012 ‘Water & Food Security’ and 2013 ‘Water and Cooperation’ – in the framework of the UN Year of Water Cooperation.
Ms Witmer was one of the panelist during the discussions on urban water stewardship. She stressed the importance of citizens getting aware of issues on water in their own environment and being heard by government officials and politicians. Water Stewardship in urban surroundings looks at all three components of sustainability and can be a great contribution to better management of our water resource. “Improving coordination between decision-makers in cities and institutions for implementation of the Water Framework Directive (e.g. river basin management boards) is essential”, Ms Witmer stated. “The main principles for good water management apart from participation of all stakeholders”, she said, “are the 5R’s: Re-design, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-allocate. Water stewardship will look at all of these components.”
