International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year. The theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is, I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights. The theme is aligned with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generation Equality, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
On the eve of celebrating, we asked women in the GWP CACENA network to tell us their journeys to become a woman leader in the water sector and how we can collectively tackle the unfinished business of empowering all women and girls in the years to come.
The personal stories of GWP women professionals are different, amazing and can inspire everybody.
“Since childhood, I was always in awe of everything related to the development sector. I had the ambition to help the disadvantaged populations in my country and in Africa”, says Félicité Vodounhessi, Programme Officer for GWP West Africa. In celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD2020) she shares her career story on becoming a Water and Rural Equipment Engineer.
“Back in 1991, as a fresh Ph.D. holder in Environmental Biology from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India, I never had a dearth of opportunities to work as a scientist. However, I was keen to use my skills and knowledge for practical applications for betterment of community. With this idea, I started my career as a Woman Programme Manager for watershed management with a Non-Government Organization (NGO) at Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India.” Dr Veena Khanduri, Executive Secretary-cum-Country Coordinator of India Water Partnership (GWP India) shares the story of her career journey in celebration of International Women's Day (IWD2020).
International Women’s Day (IWD) is observed on March 8th each year. It is a day dedicated to celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the globe.
“Water in our region – where 98% consists of desert – means much more than anywhere else. It is an interesting subject, with an interesting expert community – and it is also the subject of interest to various players. My female ancestors lived under very hard pressure, but they were leaders, and they passed this gen on to me”, says Guljamal Nurmuhamedova, Regional Coordinator for GWP Central Asia and Caucasus (CACENA). In celebration of International Women's Day (IWD2020) she shares the story of the females in her family, which shaped her own destiny: “I am part of my family”.
Michèle Okala coordinates the work of RECOJAC – the Network of Water and Climate Organisations of Central African Youth. She is one of the founding members and she is also in charge of youth issues for GWP Central Africa. Michèle has been volunteering for over 8 years, and she shares some insights to what she has learned – and what she hopes to leave as her legacy: “I created RECOJAC for the generation that will come after me. I am only laying the foundation.”
“Connection leads to protection because when you feel connected to something, you feel a responsibility to care for and protect it,” says Stephanie Woodworth as she reflects on her experiences over the past few years – from winning the 2016-2017 edition of the Great Waters Challenge, to working on a number of water-related youth projects and finding her motivation to reach her goal of connecting people to water, especially the younger generation.
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is supporting the Government of the Dominican Republic to implement a series of activities to inform the country’s submission for the second round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These activities are part of the Climate Action Enhancement Package from the NDC Partnership.
The National Water Partnerships of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan, under the sponsorship of the Embassy of Canada to Turkey and the support of GWP CACENA, are implementing a project (“Strengthening the capacity of women representatives of Turkmen and Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations in the fields of natural resource management & climate change adaptation through training activities and knowledge sharing with Georgian civil society”) aiming to increase women activity in environmental protection.
