South Asia: First regional strategic planning for mainstreaming gender in IWRM by GWA

One of the aims of the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) for the years 2005-2010 is to regionalise its activities. To do so, regional strategic planning workshops are being organised with the aim of setting the priorities for gender mainstreaming in the region and developing a regional work plan. The first GWA South Asia Regional Workshop was held from January 23-25, 2007 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The workshop was co-hosted by the Nepal Water for Health Foundation (NEWAH), one of the largest NGOs in Nepal working on water, health and sanitation issues from a gender and poverty perspective. About 50 women and men took part from NGOs, water networks, donor organisations and academia in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Representatives from Cap-Net South Asia, WaterAid UK and Nepal and the GWA Secretariat also attended.

The main objective was to build a collective Vision and Action Plan for strategising gender mainstreaming in integrated water resource management (IWRM) in the region. It was hoped that this could be achieved by bringing together participants to plan, lead and facilitate:

• Capacity building on gender and IWRM at all levels of water governance
• Knowledge development and management through a variety of media
• Networking and policy advocacy on gender equity priorities for water policy.

The context

The first day was dedicated to exchanging ideas on Gender and IWRM, presentations of regional water networks, the local context and the key concerns for mainstreaming gender and equity in water policy and practice of the different countries (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka).

Ajaya Dixit (Nepal Water Conservation Foundation) argued that we should think of constructive engagement with integrated water resource allocation and management by participating in consultative dialogues on water management with different ‘solidarities’, with the hierarchical bureaucracy (the state), the individualist corporate (the market) and the egalitarian social auditors (civil society). However, building the capacity of the powerless to engage in a contested political space is critical, particularly in social contexts where dialogue is often suppressed.

Ms Joke Muylwijk, Executive Director of the GWA, explained that we need to build the capacities of women and men, particularly the marginalised, to effectively participate in decision-making on equitable and sustainable water use and management. GWA wants to achieve this through strategic partnerships with members and partners.

A common theme was the need to build regional coordination platforms or small task forces for capacity building, knowledge management or policy advocacy. It was also recognised that, despite the rhetoric of community participation and institutional restructuring in the name of decentralised water management, the large majority of grassroots women and to some extent marginalised men, find it difficult to articulate a ‘voice’ or to participate actively as empowered citizens.

The outputs

Participants divided into three groups to share proposals on capacity building, knowledge management and policy advocacy and develop a set of regional activities to contribute to change.

The following activities were jointly agreed as first steps towards developing a joint Action Plan for the South Asia region:

1. Developing a Gender Equity Scan for monitoring water policies and sector reforms in the different South Asian countries.
2. Knowledge management on gender and IWRM.
3. Evolving a strategy for capacity building on gender and IWRM.
4. Mainstreaming gender in urban water and sanitation governance.

The gender equity scan is being developed in partnership with WaterAid, Nepal and the Women and Water Network, India. Also, the first ToT for strategising gender mainstreaming in the water and sanitation sector has been held in Gujarat, India jointly organized by the NGO Utthan and the GWA.