This session will explore how women engaging in resilience strategies, adaptation as well as mitigation activities across sectors provides broader benefits to communities. It will reflect the insights gained from the practice and policy of water resilience and draw a diverse picture of female engagement and gender equality. By providing concrete examples and lessons learnt from Latin America, Africa and Asia and from different sectors, we will discuss the merits of and need for including women more actively in water-related climate adaptation and mitigation to make policies and activities more effective and enable true resilience. It aims at centering gender equality and enhancing engagement on the application of an intersectional gender lens in water-related climate adaptation and mitigation policies and activities to enable inclusive resilience.

Further Description / Program

Climate resilience depends on women! Women change-makers are playing a powerful role in tackling the effects of climate change – nowhere more apparent than through innovative water management at local, national, and transboundary levels. Yet, women continue to face persistent social, political, and financial barriers to equal participation in water jobs and water decision making. It is often said that ‘water is a women’s affair’ due to the legacy of personal responsibility that women have had to ensure clean water and sanitation at the household level in many parts of the world -areas particularly impacted by climate change. However, women are not the passive victims ‘development-speak’ has often generalized half of humanity to be but crucial change- makers.
True and inclusive resilience can only be built if we enable a broad engagement in climate adaptation and mitigation. The urgency of the climate and water crisis demands to lift up those leaders in communities with the experience and knowledge to prioritize water and sanitation for all and reach our adaptation and mitigation goals. We cannot afford to have the decision-making bodies shaping the arc of humanity to have one hand tied behind their backs. Barriers to women’s participation in climate and water jobs and decision making must be actively removed. Therefore, this session will feature female water and climate leaders and strategies for stakeholders – local, national, regional, international – to build inclusive water and climate resilience. Examples drawing on the experience of female water and climate leaders will showcase their role as change-makers for water and climate resilience in:
• water, sanitation and hygiene
• agriculture and food security
• nature based solutions (and traditional knowledge) for water security
• water diplomacy
• water jobs

For the agenda, please see the attached file.

Speakers

GIZ, SuSanA, SIWI, WaterAid, Environmental Law Institute (ELI), Women in Water Diplomacy Network, Forest Trends, African Women Sanitation Professionals Network, Greening Mua Environmental Initiative, RAWSA, GWP Central America, WASHfin, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), African Water Association

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