As part of the ‘Multi-stakeholder Call for Action‘ Initiative led by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), the online session: ‘Global multi-stakeholder action to accelerate gender equality in water‘ took place on 24 August at the World Water Week 2022.
Since its launch in 2021, the Multi-stakeholder Coalition has continuously grown as Ms. Michela Miletto, WWAP Director and Coordinator underlined: at present, the Call for Action is supported by more than 150 members, from 60 institutions – 14 Member States, 3 regional organizations, financial institutions, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, UNESCO Chairs, and individual specialists.
The session was introduced by Abou Amani, Director of the Division of Water Sciences of UNESCO, who highlighted that the Call for Action has been recognized in several international declarations such as of the IHP Inter-Governmental Council (December 2020), the 2° Asia International Water Week (Asia to World Parliamentarian Statement) (March 2022), the Dushanbe 2° Water Conference (Final Declaration) (June 2022), and the UN High-Level Political Forum (July 2022).
Scope of the session was to report on the progress made by the Multi-stakeholder Coalition members in the field towards accelerating gender equality in the water domain. Accordingly, the results of a survey among the Multi-stakeholder Coalition with respect to their actions in the field were reported, showing members to be most active in fostering women’s leadership and narrowing the gap between policy and practice. Significant efforts in advocacy and outreach measures were reported. In light of this, various members of the Multi-stakeholder Coalition took the floor showcasing examples of best practices in ‘water and gender equality’ being implemented in different regions of the world.
The session was also an opportunity to introduce new members to the Coalition and present their activities on the ground, as well as to discuss the centrality of human rights and gender equality within the goal of sustainable water management.
This session marked an important milestone in the Call for Action’s roadmap, which will continue to showcase concrete actions at the UNESCO Groundwater Summit 2022 in Paris and the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York.
