There is universal agreement in international and national policy circles that the collection of gender-disaggregated water indicators is of the utmost importance and deserves priority. For years, UN agencies, NGOs, governments, activists, and water experts have been calling for a systematic approach to collecting gender-disaggregated water indicators. Nonetheless, a 2013 Survey by the UN Statistical Commission reveals that gendered water data is among the least available of national-level indicators.

To address the considerable data gap on gender and water issues at the global level, in 2014 WWAP launched a groundbreaking project to develop and test sex-disaggregated indicators for the collection of global water data. The core of the project consists of the WWAP Water and Gender Toolkit, which is composed of 4 Tools, and will be expanded to 6 Tools by 2019.

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The Gender Analysis Methodology developed by WWAP on water resources management, including the gender-sensitive indicators for water assessment, monitoring and reporting, has been, and is, successfully applied in outreach and capacity activities in regional and global projects. Below, two examples of projects in which WWAP is highly involved in developing and carrying out of the gender components.

GGRETA Project

In 2013, the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) initiated the development of a methodology to assess 166 transboundary aquifers in three different world regions. The project, called the ‘Groundwater Governance in Transboundary Aquifers’ (GGRETA), assesses the three different aquifers which are shared by twelve countries, and works on an improved methodology and information management system for joint assessment of transboundary aquifers.

The project is mainstreaming gender-sensitive water monitoring, assessment and reporting, under WWAP’s supervision. WWAP provides capacity building on sex-disaggregated indicators and data gathering methodologies to national experts for the assessment of transboundary groundwater in e.g. Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and provides guidance and supporting material to e.g. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Uzbekistan.

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IW:LEARN project

In 2014, WWAP and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) joined forces to design and execute the gender component of the International Waters Learning Exchange and Resources Network Project (IW:LEARN). The project aims at improving the efficiency of the IW portfolio through an enhanced consideration of gender equality in water resources management.

A series of six Webinars revolving on how to incorporate gender considerations in water resources management (SDG5 and 6), also in light of climate change and adaptation to climatic variability effects including migratory fluxes, yet took place in 2017 and 2018, which recordings can be found on the page dedicated to the webinar series.

One of the objectives is to review gender strategies from the main GEF implementing agencies in order to inform the GEF IW project-cycle and relevant stakeholders, by analyzing existing literature and emerging water-related issues.