GWAPB Gender and Water Programme Bangladesh

Since 1975 the Netherlands and Bangladesh have an intensive bilateral co-operation program in the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) sector, and till now it remains a priority area of Dutch development collaboration in the country. Since then several projects (co) financed by the Netherlands are increasingly aiming to create positive impact in the sectors of Water, Food security, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Women’s rights and gender equality, and Trade and economic development. Recognising that despite years of pro-poor and pro-gender interventions, looming gender gaps still exist in Bangladesh, in many sectors like education, health, nutrition, employment, and control over income and assets such as land and water, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN) is aiming for a more comprehensive and coordinated effort in addressing gender concerns throughout their portfolio of projects in Bangladesh. For this reason GWA was approached by EKN, in 2012, to submit a proposal for a 3 year programme to build capacity to mainstream gender in a host of projects currently being (co)financed by them.

As a precursor to writing a project proposal for EKN, GWA held a meeting of their members in November 2012 to identify and discuss current gender-and-water issues in Bangladesh, especially concentrating on the South West coastal belt area, and suggest ways and means to tackle these. These issues, along with an in-depth literature study formed the basis of a draft project proposal for the Gender and Water Programme Bangladesh (GWAPB) submitted to the EKN in early 2013, the final draft of which was approved in July 2013.

The overall goal of the GWAPB is poverty eradication by the empowerment of poor women, girls, men and boys and the efficient, effective, equitable and sustainable management of water in Bangladesh, with a focus on the South West coastal area. GWAPB’s work is directed at water professionals, decision-makers, and politicians who in their turn work to increase access to water resources for all. The ultimate beneficiaries of the programme are poor women, children, and men in Bangladesh.

The purpose of the GWAPB is to support water programmes co-financed by the EKN, civil society groups, water professionals, and government organisations in Bangladesh to adopt and implement a gender mainstreaming strategy in their water related policies and practices, in order to achieve measurable and positive impact on the lives of poor women and men. This in turn will make an essential contribution to the achievement of the EKN targets related to safe water and sanitation, food security, and poverty eradication.

Water management becomes sustainable when all levels of water users are involved in planning and decision making. Impact and clear result is achieved by a demand-driven approach, which guarantees ownership by organizations and stakeholders in Bangladesh. GWA executes the work by involving its local members as much as possible, after selecting the most qualified amongst them. Mainstreaming of gender works best when it is applied to the technical and institutional work of a partner organization, by identifying the best methods together. This is shared learning, and it is based on the knowledge and experience that technical specialists already possess about the significance of gender mainstreaming (GM) for the benefit of their work.

In the context of the GWAPB programme the activities will be targeted to different levels of staff working within the EKN supported programmes; water professionals and other staff in the diverse public and private partner organizations – including technical, academic, and research organizations; GWA Bangladesh members in the SW polder region as well as in other parts of Bangladesh; and local institutions (CBO, Water Users Association) created within the EKN supported programmes. During the Inception Phase, and ongoing throughout the programme, the candidates for the GM work are and will be identified, and their needs for capacity building assessed.

Hence, while GWAPB’s work is directed mainly at different levels of water professionals, staff of water (related) projects and institutions, and policy makers, the ultimate (and indirect) beneficiaries of the programme will be poor women, children and men in Bangladesh who are served by the work of the former group.

GWAPB’s geographic focus is decided by the physical area of the EKN supported projects that we work with. While most of these projects work in the coastal region of South West Bangladesh (Patuakhali, Khulna, and Satkhira), some of them are operational in the southern coastal area (Noakhali), and in various slums in and around Dhaka.

The GWAPB is currently working with the following EKN supported projects:

Max Value for WASH, CDSP IV (Char Development and Settlement Project IV), SaFal (Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Linkages), Blue Gold Program, Urban Dredging Demonstration Project (UDDP), PaCT- Partnership for Cleaner Textile, ADB River Management, BRAC WASH II, Water Operators Partnership (WOP), Bangladesh Delta plan 2100, World Food Programme- Scaling up Rice Fortification in Bangladesh

Furthermore, GWAPB works in partnership with a number of University departments, Research Institutes and Government departments in Bangladesh.

For this programme a team has been composed of 9 members, of whom 8 are based in the office in Dhaka. Click the link on their name to find out more about them.

Joke Muylwijk , Programme Coordinator, Executive Director GWA

Shaila Shahid, Team Leader

Rokeya Khatun, PhD, Senior Capacity Building Expert

Runia Mowla, Programme Specialist- Gender and Agriculture

Nazmun Naher, Programme Specialist – Gender and IWRM

S. M. Faridul Haque, Gender and Communication Manager

Paul C Modhu, Finance & Administration Manager

Mamun or Rashid, Office Assistant

GWAPB office is located at -

House # 14/1 (2nd floor), Road # 2/2,  Banani, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh, Cell: 01791403846

If you want to contact us by email, click here.

Mailing address :

House # 14/1 (2nd floor), Road # 2/2, Banani, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh