Women Initiative Program, under the Grassroots and Citizens Commission, means to raise public awareness on the connections between women and water; to provide expertise and experience on how to incorporate gender approaches, including equity mainstreaming, into standard practices for policy advisors, program developers, donors, local authorities, and other stakeholder groups when relevant; as well as to ensure women’s presences, involvements, and contributions as a major group along the Forum process.

The Minister of Water Supply and Drainage of Sri Lanka, Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, addressed the importance of involving women in the water issues and management as follows:

"The 6^th World Water Forum takes place at a time where water related crises are heightened by impacts of climate change. To ensure that communities are strengthened to stand up to these challenges we must make sure to involve the half of humanity which is usually ignored, namely women. Women's voices must be heard, considered and respected at every level in order to ensure sustainability in the water sector. The government of Sri Lanka recognizes that women play a critical role in management of these systems and seeks to support them with affirmative action."

Under the Women Initiative, the NGO Women for Water Partnership (WfWP) (http://www.womenforwater.org/openbaar/index.php), with the 6^th World Water Forum Secretariat, co-organised the 3^rd Pre-Conference (after the previous World Water Fora in Mexico and Turkey) for women and their organisations right before the Forum.

The pre-conference was held in Marseille from March 10^th – 11^th 2012. The theme of the preparatory conference is Women Leadership in Water.

Download the programme of the Pre-conference here.

The following are the three priority themes for the pre-conference, for which best practices/ solutions from the world were presented and discussed with the angles of different stakeholders:

1) Women’s role in water and food security

With growing world population, increased competition for natural resources and advanced attention given to environmental issues, water for food has become a major issue to be tackled. Evidently, water plays a critical role in achieving food security: it is indeed a challenge to produce better quality food while using less water. Women are responsible for more than half of the world’s food production hence their leadership role in providing water and food security is crucial.

2) Community water supply

For major health, social and economic reasons, it is critical to provide a community with increased access to water. Most importantly, a community needs water for very basic needs, such as drinking, food preparation, sanitation, bathing, laundry, and cleaning. Women have a proven success in organising bottom-up community involvement making the supply systems demand driven, tailor made and community owned.

3) Water, peace and security from a women’s perspective

Water related conflicts exist around the world. There have been numerous acts of violence over water resources which make it an important security issue in the current global context. Involving local water users in sustainable use and management of resources, priority setting and discussions on water sharing are increasingly important to prevent conflict and solve existing problems. Women are known for their conflict prevention attitude. In addition, water and food security are a basis of stability and a driving force for the social and economic empowerment of women.