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.