ebreaker” – Resistance to Change
12:20 Recap and introduction to following session
Lesha Witmer, Women for Water Partnership
12.30 End of session
The objective of the seminar was to contribute to better understanding water-related sustainable development for enhanced ecosystem functioning through gendered transformative approaches and tools. By showcasing experiences from policy to practice and unpacking practical application of tools and frameworks, the seminar made the global connection between SDG 5 and 6 and explored what this means on the ground. Each session was attendees by 50+ participants, with majority engaging in the interactive Mentimeter element. The digital participatory tool stimulated discussion around notable gender statistics and perceptions around what it means to be a GESI champion.
The overarching key messages from these presentations and discussions were:
1. Implementation of gender proactive approaches, driven by women adopting new ‘non-traditional’ roles, for inclusive and equitable ecosystem management and water developments can only be effective if change is embraced by those desiring transformation
2. Citizen science and bottom-up decision making on why and what disaggregated data is measured, and by whom, has a direct effect on benefactor agency and empowerment, and is a critical step toward creating linkages between SDGs 5 ,6 & 10.
3. Harnessing the collective, indigenous and traditional knowledge of women together with modern science ensures communities are equipped with appropriate approaches to better manage natural ecosystem limitations.
Given the direct links between this seminar and WWW 2019’s theme of ‘Water for society, including all’, the seminar closed with a formal commitment (‘handing over the baton’) from key organisations responsible for taking actions forward to 2019 – including SIWI, UNSECO WWAP, Women for Water Partnership and the Australian Government.
• Gender and women’s issues are not just about WASH; they are part and parcel of all 8 water targets and critical components of SDGs 10, 15, 16 and 17. Interlinked planning, combined action and (sex disaggregated) monitoring at local and national levels is needed to inform targeted gender responsive
• Women are innovators and important agents of change who impact and influence their societies. Too few women are engaged on water issues – both through formal employment and localized involvement in decision-making committees. Promoting women’s meaningful participation at all levels is key to implementing sustainable solutions.
Initiatives, tools, networks
• Co-designed citizen monitoring processes ensure a focus on local values, and fosters collective action, buy-in and behaviour changes. The bottom-up approach seeks to identify and unpack critical connections between women’s participation in decision-making, the conservation of ecosystems, community access to natural resources and small-scale food production.
• WWAP’s Gender Toolkit for collecting household sex disaggregated data on water issues (access, participation and management) provides a robust quantitative and qualitative evidence base to inform national water policy recommendations and identify funding source shortages / impediments to women’s organizations, where changes to finance allocation methodologies is required.
• An integrated gender-analytical framework for water governance guides practitioners in considering how the overarching desired outcomes of a programme can be unpacked in terms of gender disparities and inequalities, the implications of these, and the resultant policy recommendations that would lead to improved, equitable benefits.