Progress report for
Call for action to accelerate gender equality in the water domain
Achievement at a glance
In mid 2021, UNESCO WWAP launched the Global initiative Call for Action: Accelerating progress towards gender equality in the water domain, together with an international Multi-stakeholder Coalition. Through this Coalition, a number of Member States (so far 23 from Europe, Africa, LAC, and Asia) have officially supported the Call, including, as well as more than 160 individuals representing different institutions, NGOs, UN agencies and regional organizations, academia, among others.On 23 March 2023, and led by the Government of Guatemala, the Multi-stakeholder Coalition for accelerating gender equality in water co-organized a side event at the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York, entitled “Supporting gender equality in the Water Action Agenda with Global Multi-stakeholder effort”. The event, coordinated by WWAP, brought together the voices of the Multi-stakeholder Coalition with the main goal of discussing the implementation plan of concrete actions for a decisive advancement of the Water Action Decade objectives. The session also served to foster further discussions and to coordinate efforts with relevant stakeholders, members and non-members of the Coalition.
In September 2023, several members of the Multistakeholder Coalition (20 members from 12 Countries) gathered in Mexico City to participate in their First Operational Workshop. During the meeting, the participants described all the projects and activities undertaken since the 2023 UN Water Conference and the progress achieved, showing their engagement and strong willingness to implement concrete actions.
Under the coordination of UNESCO WWAP, which is funded by the Government of Italy, and thanks to the financial support of the Republic of Slovenia, a digital platform of the Multistakeholder Coalition on Water and Gender is being developed. This platform will serve as a community of practice to showcase and promote concrete actions and the progress made by the Coalition and share relevant knowledge on gender equality in the water domain.
Challenges faced in implementation
Funding for speeding up implementation is required.Next Steps
The Coalition has developed a work-plan, which include for 2024 the launch of a community of practice online platform and the participation in key events for result dissemination.Beneficiaries
Multiple country institutions, NGOs, women's organisations, youth groups, scientific and technological communities, and civil society may directly benefit from the actions considered by this game-changer.