The Gender and Water Alliance was formed in March 2000 at the 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague. The Alliance was formed by 110 organisations and individuals from around the world in response to the Ministerial Declaration of The Hague on Water Security for the 21st Century.
The Declaration recognised the link between integrated water resources management and poverty alleviation and urged that “special attention should be paid to the poor and to the role, skills and needs of women.” The purpose of the initial GWA Programme was to promote strategic improvements in the practice of gender mainstreaming through a network of individuals and organisations committed to and active in mainstreaming gender in their own work and that of their partners. This was designed to contribute to the goal, which was to achieve effective policies and practice on gender mainstreaming in integrated water resources management, with the ultimate aim to improve the water situation of poor women and men.
Although many key water sector organisations at international and national levels have policy commitments to mainstreaming gender in IWRM, gender equality considerations have often not become part of the responsibility of all staff. Despite efforts to “mainstream”, there is still a need for staff and organisations with dedicated responsibility for promoting attention to gender equality. There is consistent evidence that, without staff dedicated to support and sustain gender equality initiatives, gender is “mainstreamed” out of existence.
The role of GWA is both to support and hold to account water-sector organisations in developing and implementing gender sensitive policies. GWA's 2006-10 Strategy goes beyond raising awareness at the global level to focus on regional, national and local level impact. This shift in focus is informed by the common finding in almost all gender evaluations, of the considerable gap between policy commitments
to gender equality and practical initiatives and impact on the ground.
Recommendations consistently focus on the need to ensure local “ownership” of policy commitments; to back up policies with funded and time limited action plans; to ensure action plans are accompanied by appropriate commitments of staff, financial resources and by realistic indicators of change; and to take active steps to build staff and organisational capacity for gender mainstreaming at all levels.
The organization recognises that gender and water agendas may vary substantially between and within regions and that a “one size fits all” approach to gender mainstreaming at national and local levels is inappropriate and ineffective. This highlights the need for a regional approach to strategy development by GWA members and training materials and resources tailored to locally identified priorities and needs.
The Gender and Water Alliance is a partner and Cooperating Organization with dgCommunities Gender and Development and Urban Development. Photograph courtesy Asian Development Bank – Reference Kieu Ky Project, Vietnam.
February 21, 2008
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