In our series of inter-regional discussions on gender equality and social inclusion, GWP’s Liza Debevec invited GWP South Asia’s Lal Induruwage, and Ashish Barua of the Swiss development organisation Helvetas, to talk about meaningful and inclusive participation in decision-making and partnerships. This is something both their countries – Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – have made great progress on in policies. However, they both agree that gaps still exist between policies and reality on the ground. One of the big challenges is lack of accountability.
IHE Delft has held the 6th edition of the International Symposium on Knowledge and Capacity Development for the Water Sector. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the symposium – “From Capacity Development to Implementation Science” – was held online on 26-29 May, with around 500 participants from around the world. GWP is a Partner of the Symposium and hosted a session on ‘Reaching and engaging local communities.’ Recommendations from all sessions were fed into the Delft Agenda, finalised at the end of June and launched on 20 July.
As a woman who has been working for women's rights for more than 20 years and participated in hundreds of training sessions, meeting and round tables, Mirela Arqimandriti has met women from all over Albania who work in industry, service sector or public sector – such as women workers in textile and shoe factories, agriculture, health, education etc. She says that having safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation is central to human rights and the personal dignity of every woman, man and child on earth. A collaborator of GWP Mediterranean, Mirela celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD2020) by sharing her story.
“Over the years, I have learned that the water crisis affects women and girls especially in rural areas with high vulnerability. Where there is no water, women and girls must carry heavy drums of water for kilometres, endure the hardness of the soil, and experience the insecurity to ensure their families the human right of access to drinking water and sanitation.” These are the concerns of Carmen Gonzales, Chair of GWP Nicaragua, as she shares her career story in celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD2020).
Huiping Chen is a Professor of International Law at the Xiamen University School of Law in China. She also leads the GWP China Fujian Provincial Partnership. She says that opportunity has played a key role in her successful career. In celebration of International Women's Day (IWD2020) she shares her story:
GWPEA is implementing the “Strengthening Drought Resilience for Smallholder Farmers and Pastoralists in the IGAD Region (DRESS-EA) Project in four Riparian countries of Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. The project, which is undertaken in collaboration with the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) aims at increasing the resilience of smallholder farmers and pastoralists to climate change risks mainly those related to drought, through the establishment of appropriate early warning systems and implementation of drought adaptation actions in the IGAD region.
IHE Delft is organising the symposium 'From Capacity Development to Implementation Science' on 27-29 May. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event will be held online. This is the 6th edition of the international symposium, which highlights knowledge and capacity development for the water sector.
