Women and water: preliminary conference on women leadership in water
On the eve of the 6th World Water Forum on 10 and 11 March, over 100 women and men gather in Marseille to discuss the issue of women leadership in the service of water and forge solutions. While the central role of women in the provision, management and conservation of water has been recognised internationally since the Rio Summit in 1992. However, the right conditions for full equal participation by women in the water sector has yet to emerge.
The pre-conference aims to bring out concerted action to make access to water for food production, domestic use and income-generating activities, a reality for the billion people on our planet who lack these basic necessities.
It will revolve around three main themes: The role of women in the water and food security sector, the supply of communities with water, and water, peace and security from the perspective of women.
Organisations of civil society will present concrete situations of access to water problems and will exchange with ministers, representatives of international institutions, government agencies, development organisations and women groups to define together how to move forward and develop a roadmap to implement the principles and policies already agreed. This will result in three messages and challenges related to each topic that will be presented to the Forum high-level session on Women on 14 March 2012.
Parade High-Level Catwalk
On the14 March women will occupy the central podium at the 6th World Water Forum. Presented by a famous actress, nine women from different parts of the world will stroll down the catwalk to show the challenges they face and their practical solutions on the "Catwalk for effective management of water and sustainable livelihoods". The new challenges emanating from the women pre-conference will be judged and commented by a high profile jury of ministers, politicians and civil society leaders.
Ambassadors for women's leadership in the service of water
We can count on the presence and support of famous world leaders - including his Hon. Maria Mutagamba, Minister of Environment and Water of Uganda, the Hon. DineshGunawardena, Minister of Water Supply and Sanitation in Sri Lanka, Mrs Kenza Kaouakib Robinson, Secretary of the UN Water and Donald Steinberg, deputy administrator of USAID.
Women for Water Partnership
Women for Water Partnership consists of 24 networks of women and their subsidiaries, and is present in about 90 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, EECCA and Western Europe. WfWP focuses mainly on the social and economic development of women, by increasing access to water and to basic sanitation. His main areas of action are autonomy, access to local ownership, fair treatment of gender, partnership and development.
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