International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women, who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. This year’s International Women’s Day was celebrated under the theme “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”.

On 17-18 February, the second regional workshop on transboundary waters, “Understanding the challenges - Planning for regional and transboundary action” was held in Tela, Honduras, to support the establishment of a Regional Dialogue and Community of Practice on Transboundary Waters in Central America.

How can transboundary water cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa be strengthened and consequently support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Goal 6 in particular, in the region?

As part of the UN SDG 6 Data Drive, the SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme is substantially scaling up its efforts in 2020 by facilitating 60+ in-country processes across the world to assist national stocktaking and reporting, and more importantly, to support transformative action towards a greater implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

“It began with passion and learning. When I was young, I wanted to be an engineer and then I wanted to teach. Putting these two interests together, I became a university teacher specialized in water resources engineering.” This is how Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein’s professional journey with water started. Now, 42 years later and many experiences richer, she shares her career story in celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD2020).

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year. The theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is, I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights. The theme is aligned with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generation Equality, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. On the eve of celebrating, we asked women in the GWP CACENA network to tell us their journeys to become a woman leader in the water sector and how we can collectively tackle the unfinished business of empowering all women and girls in the years to come. The personal stories of GWP women professionals are different, amazing and can inspire everybody.

For International Women's Day 2020, celebrated on 8 March, UN Women chose the theme, "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.” GWP reached out to women in its worldwide network, asking them to share stories on what they learned on their journey to taking on leadership roles in the water sector.

As a woman who has been working for women's rights for more than 20 years and participated in hundreds of training sessions, meeting and round tables, Mirela Arqimandriti has met women from all over Albania who work in industry, service sector or public sector – such as women workers in textile and shoe factories, agriculture, health, education etc. She says that having safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation is central to human rights and the personal dignity of every woman, man and child on earth. A collaborator of GWP Mediterranean, Mirela celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD2020) by sharing her story.