What we do

The goal of GWA is to achieve effective gender mainstreaming in the design and implementation of IWRM policies resulting in measurable positive impact on the lives of poor women and men. To contribute to this the purpose of GWA's activities is to significantly strengthen the gender-related understanding and practice of water sector professionals and decision-makers at national and local levels in targeted regions and countries.

The activities of GWA focus on five outputs:

1. Managing, strengthening and ensuring the effective operation of GWA’s network of members worldwide
2. Collecting, recording and sharing with GWA members and other key stakeholders knowledge and information on gender mainstreaming policies, practice and experience
3. Increasing the capacity to mainstream gender in IWRM
4. Advocacy for the incorporation of gender issues in the development and implementation of regional and national water-related policies and other policy influencing initiatives
5. Reinforcing the international and global profile of gender equality issues in the water sector.

The work of the GWA is always demand driven and frequently undertaken in partnership. The demand-driven approach increases the sense of ownership of the beneficiaries and leads to more sustainable results. In some regions, gender issues are still considered to be sensitive, so GWA’s demand-driven approach ensures the participation of those who are interested in the topic, and are prepared to make genuine efforts to mainstream gender. This has led to a high level of effectiveness for GWA’s activities. Similarly, by working with partners, GWA has been able to broaden the base for its activities, increasing the possibility for success.

Being a network means that the whenever possible the members are included in the activities of GWA. They can be involved both as trainers or as trainees in capacity building programmes, can be asked to do action research on new topics, can be involved in writing fact-sheets, case-studies or publications, can be asked to represent GWA in (international) conferences and of course are asked to share their knowledge and findings with other members of the network.

More detailed information on what we do can be found on this website in the sections "GWA activities" and "GWA products".