No Water No Future at upcoming Horasis Global Meeting in Espiritu Santo, Brazil

Webinar on Water

The recordings of the webinar are now available at: https://bit.ly/3Sou7B2

The Women + Water lecture series runs since December 2018. It addresses the roles, responsibilities and development opportunities of women in the broad water domain. the full playlist of lectures can be accessed here.

Climate Action in the EU: the Role of Women

The European Union has included a binding target in its 2030 Climate and Energy Framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 40% below the 1990 levels. The EU Member States are in an advanced process of developing integrated National Climate and Energy Plans (NECPs) for that purpose. On a longer term, the EU aims at a climate neutral economy by the year 2050.

These are ambitious targets and they cannot be achieved through technical innovation alone. They require changes in lifestyles and consumption patterns. And they need all hands on deck.

Globally, the importance of gender sensitivity and women inclusiveness in addressing climate change is stressed by UN agencies and other institutions (e.g. UN WomenWatch). In the EU climate agenda, the role of women in climate change adaptation and mitigation is not visibly included.
The European Committee of the Regions, on the initiative of the Government of Navarra Spain, has organised a discussion on Policies, Women and Climate Change during Green Week 2019. I had the pleasure of participating in the panel to speak about the role of women’s civil society.

The workshop addressed how to achieve horizontal and vertical integration in policies and practice, such that climate action is looked at from different perspectives, effectively connects all relevant areas of activity, and includes all relevant stakeholders. The focus was on inclusion of women.

Regional and local authorities play an important role in stimulating and organising climate action. They ensure that climate adaptation and/or mitigation measures are taken at the lowest appropriate level and that bespoke solutions are developed and implemented in close cooperation with the different stakeholders, including civil society groupings such as Women and Youth. The regional government of Navarra, Spain has in October 2018 launched a climate action network of female government officials and parliamentarians. The Network is a leading force for climate action and partners with women’s civil society to develop and implement joint action programmes that have a cross-cutting perspective and an integrated and gender sensitive approach.

Women’s civil society in turn, has important contributions to make. Women organise themselves in social networks that span the different segments and sectors in society, and connect local, national and international levels; as such they are an instrument for both horizontal and vertical integration. Women’s organisations voice the concerns and knowledge of citizens for informed decision-making. At the same time, they unite active citizens to contribute to various sustainable development targets, including to climate action. This potential is only marginally used to date.

The main points of my intervention on the role of women’s civil society in climate change adaptation and mitigation are summarised here.

Trade + Impact: promoting women's social entrepreneurship

A social enterprise not only generates revenue, but also creates positive social and environmental returns. Social entrepreneurs follow the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit; they create innovative paths for achieving sustainable development.

Trade + Impact is a trade association based in Toronto, Canada, that unites and supports women-lead social enterprises in the crafts and natural cosmetic sectors. The focus is on Africa and the Middle East.

I am thrilled to have joined their Board of Directors of T+I as Vice-Chair and Secretary of the Board and Lead of the Governance Committee.

Women and water in agriculture: paving the way for a better future

Agriculture is the backbone of Myanmar’s economy, employing around two-thirds of the labour force and accounting for over one-third of GDP. Women, in turn, are the backbone of the agricultural sector and their active engagement, including in the provision, management and safeguarding of water, will yield substantial benefits for sustainable agriculture practice and food security.

Australian Water Partnership (AWP) has announced funding of a project that addresses the gender, water and food synergies in Myanmar. I have the pleasure of participating in the project as International Advisor. For their full announcement, see Link

Discussing food-water-gender with FAO Representative to Myanmar, Mrs. Xiaojie Fan and staff members involved in the project

The project ‘ Gender, Water and Food Synergies in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals in Myanmar’ is the first project in a partnership of the Australian Water Partnership and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to address agricultural water management in the Asia Pacific. Lead organisation is the Institute for Sustainable Futures of University of Technology, Sydney (UTS-ISF). Local Partners in the project include WRTC-Myanmar and Water Mothers of Myanmar.

Water Mothers of Myanmar celebrate International Women's Day and World Water Day

Water is essential for women’s social and economic development and women have a key role to play in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. Water Mothers of Myanmar create a movement to effectively address the gender dimension of water security and to empower women to play an active role in water governance across the country.

During the Celebration of World Water Day 2019 in Nay Pyi Taw, Dr. Anna Hluan, Patron of Water Mothers delivered the keynote speech on ‘Leaving No One Behind’. She zoomed in on the pledge of the United Nations to create an ‘all-of-society engagement and partnership’ in which all countries and all stakeholders work together towards transformative change. She encouraged countries to embrace diversity and to effectively include women as partners. She called for 4P: Public-Private-People Partnerships in which the People should come first.

I had the pleasure to attend as Vice-President of WRTC International Foundation, the support structure for affiliated organisations in Myanmar, which includes the Water Mothers organization. We discussed and planned for civil society engagement in water and development action in Myanmar.

Women and Water on International Women’s day 2019

Women and Water featuring prominently on International Women’s day 2019.

The SDG5 (Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) and SDG6 (Water Security) interface is a powerful entry point to advance on poverty eradication while leaving no one behind. I was happy to see so many references to Women and Water during International Women’s Day 2019.

Here are some interesting articles:

• The Transformative Potential of Women in Water Management: link

• Translating research evidence into change for gender equality: link

• Think equal, build smart, innovate for change: link

Young Water Fellowship, check it out

The dictum of Agenda 21: “Think globally, act locally” is now more relevant than ever. The new global sustainable development agenda is set. Translating the agreed principles to practice is where the challenge lies. If we are serious about an “all-of-society engagement and partnership” as the pathway for implementing the 2030 Development Agenda, substantial investment in the preconditions for local action is a must.

The Young Water Fellowship is a flagship programme in this regard and I am proud to serve on its International Steering Committee. In 2018 through 2020, the Young Water Fellowship programme will focus on social entrepreneurship.

Young Water Solutions (YWS) supports young people from low and middle income countries to transform their innovative ideas into sustainable businesses in the water and sanitation sector and therewith simultaneously addressed two of today’s major challenges: youth unemployment and lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

For more information, see http://youngwatersolutions.org

Women of Navarra taking action on Climate Change

On 15 October, 2018 Women politicians and directors in public administration of Navarra came together in the Parliament of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain to address the effects of climate change in their constituencies. Their commitment to urgent and structured action was laid down in a comprehensive Declaration, that builds on the Navarra Roadmap for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in an integrated, women-inclusive and gender sensitive way.

My performance during the panel discussion in Pamplona (scroll to 17:40 minutes)

On the second day of this impressive ‘Women and Climate Change” gathering, the political commitment was discussed with women leaders from different sectors in society. My panel  zoomed in on women leadership in civil society. I was asked how the global Women for Water Partnership came about some 15 years ago, how women’s civil society can contribute to water security and sustainable development, and how this relates to the current climate change challenges.

Here are the main points of my answer to the panel:

Water security is central to ensuring the well-being and sustainable development of our societies. In the light of climate change, water governance has become even more urgent and challenging. At local levels, where most of the action takes place, the need to move from consultation to participation by stakeholders is obvious, but still lacking in many cases. Including women’s civil society as a lead partner is an important tool to overcome social inertia and to create bespoke solutions that effectively address the needs of a community.

There are many examples of successful projects on the women-water development nexus. However, they are generally small in scale and bringing these successes to scale is quite a challenge. As a success story from the developing world, I mentioned the Women Farmers Advancement Organization of Nigeria (WOFAN), constituting 1,500 self-help groups across six states of Nigeria. WOFAN has changed the outlook for marginalized women farmers for the better, and has improved their climate-resilience in the process.

esPossible dedicates issue to water and women

The Paragua initiative that started in Nicaragua in 2011 is a good example of how public and private parties can work together to realise participatory water governance at the community level. 

Gender equality and the human rights based approach are central to its success.

ECODES, one of the  partners in this initiative, has dedicated the June 2018 publication of esPosible to Water and Women (Agua y Mujeres). 

The publication also contains an interview with me, Alice Bouman-Dentener, which reflects on the Citizen’s Process of World Water Forum 8 and the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Sustainable Development’ 2018 - 2028.

As the Magazine is in Spanish, the English version of the interview is available here.

Women taking action on Water Decade

The Final Declaration of the 2018 High-level Dushanbe conference on the Water Action Decade re-emphasizes “the key role of women for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6, their insufficient representation in water-related decision-making processes and among water professionals at all levels, the disproportionate burden carried by many women and girls for water collection and use, their specific needs of safe water and sanitation facilities and the need to create an enabling environment to address these issues.”  

The Women Water Forum preceding the conference discussed how women in their different public and private roles can contribute effectively to make the Water Action Decade a success. The commitments and recommendations are laid down in the outcome document that was presented jointly by UN Women Regional Director Interim for Europe and Central Asia, Ms. Alia El-Yassir and women’s civil society representative, Ms Rano Mansurova, Tajikistan in the plenary of the High-level conference.

The full report of the 2018 Women Water Forum in Dushanbe is available here.

It was most encouraging to witness a strong participation of Women in Science through the Royal Academy of Science International Trust (RASIT), discussing the need for applied science with grassroots women who informed women scientist about the gender reality on the ground. Such mutual understanding creates transformative action.

Catalyzing water action

The High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028 that convened on 20 – 22 June, 2018 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan joined over 1.500 participants from 120 countries. It was a true multi-stakeholder gathering with participants ranging from Heads of State to local government and from international NGOs to local grassroots representing different major groups. The conference produced three outcome documents: the Co-chairs’ Summary, a Final Declaration, which was adopted by acclamation by the representatives of the participating states and organizations, and a Call for Action and Partnership based on the proceedings of the conference.

This was the first of a series of bi-annual gatherings during the Water Action Decade. I consider this ‘Dushanbe process’ important because it stimulates concrete actions through multi-stakeholder cooperation and regular stocktaking of progress and impact. Different stakeholder groups (Academia, Youth and Women) had the opportunity to work amounts themselves and bring the results of their deliberations into the main conference through a presentation in the opening plenary as well as participation in different action panels. The most important aspect of the Dushanbe process is what happens in between the bi-annual conference transforming the action programme into reality on the ground.

Water for Vulnerable People important topic during Dushanbe Conference

The Dushanbe High-Level Conference on the Water Action Decade included an Action Panel on Water for Vulnerable People, which I had the pleasure to moderate. This session addressed the interlinkages between water scarcity, food insecurity, poverty and migration. A key message was that migration governance needs a comprehensive approach including other perspectives such as water management, rural development and poverty reduction. It requires the cooperation of different stakeholders such as governments, international organizations, research, civil society, and private sector.

The water agenda is traditionally a development agenda. Next to the importance of water for development, water security is increasingly becoming a global concern because of its implications for social instability and migration. A recent book on global security matters includes a chapter on water security, which I had the pleasure to co-author with former UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation, Catharina de Albuquerque and Josefina Maestu, water adviser of Spain. The chapter is available under ‘Research and Publications’ on this site.

Alice Bouman-Dentener interviewed by UN Women

I was interviewed by UN Women during the Dushanbe High-level conference on the Water for Sustainable Development Action Decade. They asked me all about why I founded the Women for Water Partnership at the beginning of this milennium.

You can find the interview on UN Women’s website.