Water for Women joins DFAT, CS WASH and AWP in Stockholm as Team Australia at World Water Week 2018

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DFAT at World Water Week

World Water Week is the annual focal point for global water issues, bringing together thousands of people and hundreds of organisations over one week to network, exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions to the most pressing water challenges facing the world today. In August, Water for Women joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and other Australian government funded programs such as the Civil Society Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (CS WASH) and Australian Water Partnership (AWP) to build a Team Australia presence at World Water Week in Stockholm.

 

Water for Women Fund Manager, Ms Alison Baker said, ‘Team Australia created a very strong presence at World Water Week this year. Our goal was to demonstrate the commitment of the Australian Government to the water and sanitation sector, which is evidenced by ongoing strategic investment from Australian Aid targeting WASH delivery that is effective and sustainable long term, and also ensures gender equality and social inclusion underpins all of our activities.’

 

This year’s World Water Week theme was “Water, ecosystems and human development” with a strong emphasis on gender and how gender perspectives need to be involved in the delivery of solutions. Water for Women responds to evidence that gendered approaches to WASH can contribute to more effective, sustainable WASH outcomes as well as improvements in women and girls’ well-being. This also offers an entry point to facilitate changes in gender relations, norms and attitudes. Actively involving all people within communities (women, men, marginalised groups, people with disabilities) ensures more equitable and inclusive processes, which lead to more effective and sustainable outcomes in water, sanitation and hygiene.  

 

This was a theme echoed in the World Water Week programme. Water for Women participated in numerous sessions over the week addressing a wide range of topics related to WASH such as:

 

  • Sustaining improved sanitation services
  • Financing of universal access for sanitation
  • Addressing gender and social inclusion issues in WASH
  • Increasing the involvement of the private sector in WASH delivery
  • Institutionalising approaches and solutions
  • Improved collaboration between partners 
  • Integration of ideas and approaches

 

In recognition of the importance of collaboration, Team Australia worked together to promote all of the Australian investments in the WASH sector.  Water for Women was also involved in the inaugural Australian Partners meeting between all DFAT-funded investments and including international partners such as World Health Organisation, UNICEF, World Bank and three of our Civil Society Organisation (CSO) partners – SNV, WaterAID and iDE.

 

World Water Week provided an excellent platform to promote Water for Women and Team Australia with more than 3,600 participants from 133 countries in attendance and nearly 300 sessions conducted throughout the week. Water for Women looks forward to contributing more knowledge and learning to the global WASH sector as the Fund progresses.

 

Find out more:

www.waterforwomen.org

http://www.worldwaterweek.org

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