Gender equity and women’s empowerment in water resources management is one of the cornerstones of the Dublin-Rio principles upon which the GWP network is founded, and is accepted as one of the essential pillars to poverty eradication and sustainable development. The World Bank views gender equality as smart economics, in that failure to empower half the world’s population leads to lower productivity, lower economic growth, and weaker development outcomes.
The new focus on gender aims to facilitate gender responsive policies and programmes as well as equal gender participation in GWP structures. To support the GWP Gender Strategy elaboration, GWP has set up an international Reference Group as a consultative forum for electronic discussions, writing and reviewing text during the production of the GWP Gender Strategy. The GWP Gender Reference Group comprises women and men who serve on a voluntary basis.
Before the end of 2011, GWP Partners can expect to receive for comment a Plan of Work/Gender Roadmap. The road map will be reviewed from time to time and used to mark the progress of the Gender Strategy.
For more information:
Mercy Dikito-Wachtmeister
Senior Officer - Global Initiatives
mercy.dikito-wachtmeister@gwp.org