On the eve of the holiday, we decided to interview our male partners and ask them one question: “Did a woman participate in your professional growth or in your choice of profession? If so, tell us your story”.
Liza Debevec joined the global GWP secretariat in May 2020 as Senior Gender & Water Specialist. This is the first time GWP has a full-time person dedicated to gender, and Liza’s task will be to operationalize the gender dimensions of GWP's 2020-2025 Strategy, and more specifically the GWP Gender Strategy and Gender Action Piece. In this Q&A interview, Liza shares thoughts on her new role: “The biggest gender and social inclusion challenge in every sector, not just in water resources management, is that of access, or the lack of access to relevant resources that women and vulnerable communities face.”
“It began with passion and learning. When I was young, I wanted to be an engineer and then I wanted to teach. Putting these two interests together, I became a university teacher specialized in water resources engineering.” This is how Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein’s professional journey with water started. Now, 42 years later and many experiences richer, she shares her career story in celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD2020).
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.”
The Global Water Partnership Mediterranean is seeking to hire a company to develop the Flood Insurance Project in the framework of the GEF Project “Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management in the Extended Drin River Basin”.
As part of the ongoing initiative between GWP and the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) to make the voices of youth heard on water, we asked for stories on how the current COVID-19 outbreak has changed people's daily routines in different parts of the world. Here, we share 3 of the stories – more are coming soon.
