The workshop which was held from November 25th -26th 2021 in Bangui was organized by the Central African Republic Country Water Partnership (GWP-CAR) and supported by GWP-Central Africa (GWP-CAf) as part of the regional implementation of the Water, Climate, Development and Gender (WACDEP-G) Program. The main objective of the two-day training was to raise awareness and strengthen the capacity of women-led organizations on water security and climate resilience.
The opening ceremony was chaired by the Director of Cabinet for the Ministry of Energy Development and Water Resources, Mr. Alain Fidèle KOLONGATO-NGBADOU,with the presence of GWP-CAf’s Chair Mr. Sylvain GUEBANDA and the Director General of Water resources, Mr. Barnabé FALIBAI. In his introductory remarks, the chair of GWP-CAR said, “Training and capacity building are a priority to us because they allow for the increased participation and effective involvement of all stakeholders in the promotion of IWRM in CAR” .
On his part, Mr. Alain Fidèle reminded participants that the Water Department quickly understood the need to coordinate the management of water resources in the country and adhered to the principles of IWRM since 2006. He added that the training is a timely opportunity to equip women-led organizations to fully understand and take up their role in IWRM, particularly a climate change context. According to him, CAR is facing the impacts of climate change and water resources are not spared, which is why country’s newly adopted National Water Policy forecasts the development of a national IWRM program as a response to the issue of climate change.
The training featured presentations by experts from GWP-CAR’s technical and scientific committee and the WACDEP-G team on the following key topics;
- concept and principles of Integrated Water Resources Management
- The governance framework of water resources in CAR;
- The process of climate change: factors and effects.
- Initiatives to tackle climate change;
- Overview of the WACDEP-G Program
- Gender, the Gender Transformative Approach and Gender Responsive Budgeting
- The role and position of women in the safeguarding and management of water resources
After the presentations, participants engaged in a group discussion to identify actions to be implemented to improve gender mainstreaming in the water, sanitation, and agriculture sectors. This group discussion also enabled participants to explore ways of developing a gender action plan.
Following the discussions, some key recommendations were made by the participants.
To the Government: Involve women-led organizations in all activities related to water and climate change; Improve women’s representativeness in water management Committee.
To technical and financial partners: Support women-led organizations to advocate on gender, water security and climate resilience; support women-led organizations to advocate for gender-responsive budgeting.
Background
To implement the Water, Climate, Development and Gender (WACDEP-G) program in the Central African Republic, three main components were developed. This training is within the framework of the second component which focuses on targeted capacity building activities for stakeholders to integrate water security and climate resilience into national development. Activities in this component also involves knowledge development and experience sharing on water security and climate resilience in CAR through information on the state of water resources and the impact of climate change. In 2019, GWP-CAR organized a similar capacity building workshop for media representatives in th.