Transcript Water is women’s business

Women and Water diplomacy:
women role in deliberations and
implementation of international waterrelated agreements
Lesha Witmer,
Chair Standing Committee
environment, sustainable
development & water IFBPW
Just to remind you:
Why is water a women’s issue
Majority of the users (domestic, agriculture,
food, business, health care)
Main consumers > influence quality,
regulations (tap; bottle)
Main suppliers in many parts of the world
(Easy) access to safe water; prerequisite for
health, education and economic activity/ independency
Sanitation is about health, dignity and safety
Motivate and educate; take action
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Why is it a women’s issue?
More and more women have professional
education in the field
Are experts / professionals – but rarely in
decision-making positions
Perform tasks were they can influence water
use: Work as health care workers, facility
management, educators, etc.
Manage and own (small) businesses
Women empowerment principles.
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Diplomacy
Art and practice of conducting negotiations
between representatives of states
Usually refers to international diplomacy, by
professional diplomats with regard to issues of
peace-making, economics, culture, environment,
and human rights.
In an informal or social sense, diplomacy is the
employment of tact to gain strategic advantage
or to find mutually acceptable solutions to a
common challenge, phrasing of statements in a
non-confrontational, or polite manner
Advocacy with respect.
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Diplomacy = alliances
(founding) member of Women for Water
Partnership > official partner UN Water
Member of world water council >
influence the world water forum
Member of the Butterfly Effect >
cooperation
Working with major group women and
caucus for the CSW and HLPF SD
Working with ministries for water
(resources)
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What’s the difference?
Women see and focus on the impact on
livelihoods first
Men are interested in and tend to see the
technology first
Women tend to see the “merit” ; Men tend
to see the “market“
Women tend to integrate/ look for
“horizontal” coordination/ cohesion; Men
tend to focus on the “silo”
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What’s the difference?
Women tend to build relations first <> make
local connections <> People tend to give
women more information
Access to areas that are restricted to men
Finding solutions to the root cause of many
insecurity and inequality issues makes
women effective diplomats
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What’s the difference?
Female ambassadors tend to focus on underlying
factors of larger problems, bringing issues such as
poverty, family structures, health care and the lack
of safe drinking water into discussions
Diplomacy is reactive in nature, women are willing
to consider options more carefully for a longer
period of time than men until the right route for
action is found
Examples: Hilary Clinton, Maria Mutagambe, lady
Ashton..
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Levels of engagement
consultation ≠ Participation
multi stakeholder engagement + collective
decision-making on equal footing
space for engagement: from planning >
implementation
sphere of influence <> diplomacy
“pace” and timing (very different for different
stakeholder groups)
respect the role(s) ! be clear on expectations,
roles/ tasks from the start
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Water: a merit good
Goods and services that are judged to be worth more than
their value according to the market. Merit goods such as
water & sanitation services may be under-supplied in
proportion to their perceived value (if left to private
enterprise), and are therefore often provided by
governments or nonprofit organizations
In economics, a good to which persons are believed to have a
right. That is, a merit good is something that should be
available for free or at reduced prices because it is
necessary and the free market does not provide sufficient
incentives (yet) to produce it
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In general
Water needs a common voice
Water needs sustainable, social, behavioral , economic
solutions
Water needs joint action
Water needs local and global solutions
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Sustainable Development
needs Goals 5 and 6
Principles of water governance:
Equitable and reasonable use, no harm
And Universal access to basic services (water &
sanitation)
<>
Empowerment & economic independency of women
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Attention needed for:
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Behavioral changes
Waste water management: 5 R’s: redesign, reduce, reuse,
re-cycle, re-allocate
Water storage & MUS (multiple usage)
Capacity development: awareness about use and pollution
(lack of) access to safe sanitation
River basin management: IWRM and transboundary
Restoration of infra-structure
Water stewardship
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What can and should
women support?
universal access to safe water supply and genderresponsive sanitation and hygiene
access to proper hygiene (education)
front- line service delivery by women
involvement of women in water management and
water governance at all levels.
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I wish..
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Recommendation/
conclusion
• Support the agreement on SDG 5 and 6 with
current targets
• Acknowledge women as leaders, experts and
agents of change in water – SD nexus
• Include women at all levels in the decision-making
process by setting quota of at least 40% women in
water governing bodies
• Support establishment of a dedicated water and
women’s fund
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Recommendation/
conclusion
• and budget for capacity development, vocational
training, empowerment and design appropriate
governance structures
• Make sure there are gender-disaggreated
qualitative and quantitative data
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