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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Bolstering evidence, benchmarking and capacity building efforts to diversify the water workforce

World Bank (
United Nations / Multilateral body
)
#SDGAction49829
Description
Description
Equal Aqua is a partnership platform to promote gender diversity and benchmarking in water institutions. It is currently hosted by the World Bank, Water Global Practice in collaboration with 20 institutional partners. Its experience in supporting gender equality in the water workforce points to the positive combination of quantitative benchmarking using a systematic framework on the drivers of gender diversity, together with training and capacity building, and peer-to-peer support for those undertaking such change within water institutions, while bringing partners together to share tools, resources and joint learning. This combination has helped a number of water institutions increase the gender representation of women in decision-making positions in water and sanitation utilities. Research has shown that such representation is an important element not only in enhancing female voice and influence on programs and policies, but in overall performance and in responsiveness to the specific needs of women – as highlighted in several SDGs. This commitment seeks to scale up such benchmarking, capacity building, and dissemination of the Equal Aqua approach to accelerate and facilitate more gender diverse water institutions.
Expected Impact
Fostering more diverse water institutions with equal representation of women in decision-making positions not only accelerates advancement of gender equality (SDG 5), increasing evidence points to its contribution to other Sustainable Development Goals in a variety of ways. Social research has shown that where women are in leadership or decision-making positions, they are more likely to listen and respond to the needs of female water users (as in Sub-Saharan Africa and many other parts of the world women and girls continue to play a predominant role in collection of off-site water), thus contributing to achievement of SDG6 in terms of universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene. In addition, the specific focus on benchmarking, which provides quantitative baseline and opportunities to set targets, as well as comparators (through Scorecards and comparators to other regional and global water institutions) provides improved metrics on actual achievement of gender diversity outcomes. A recent review of progress on gender inclusion under SDG6.5.1 by the Global Water Partnership highlighted the need for measures that go beyond policies to better capture and keep a focus on outcomes in order to accelerate progress. Further, the partnerships under Equal Aqua accelerate the pace of joint learning and sharing of tools on how to achieve greater gender representation in water institutions and in water decision-making. This is important to ensure that evidence on how to shift the complex social norms, incentives, policies and work culture that contribute to more equitable and diverse water workplaces inform action, and thus close the gap between intentions and outcomes.
Partners

Existing and future partners in the Equal Aqua platform may decide to opt in to participate in these commitments (Equal Aqua partners currently include: American Water Works Association (USA), Aguas y Saneamientos Argentinos S.A. (Argentina), The Labor Unión (Argentina), Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo (Brazil), Tirana Water Company (Albania), Office National de l'Eau et de l'Assainissement (Burkina Faso), Xylem (USA), Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney (Australia), Global Water Partnership (Sweden), International Association of Water Supply Companies in the Danube River Catchment Area (Europe), Water Youth Network (Netherlands), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sweden), Water Aid (Rwanda, UK, India, Australia), United States Agency for International Development (USA), Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (Ghana, UK), Institute for Dialogue and Culture of Encounter (Argentina), Malindi Water and Sewerage Company (Kenya), African Women Sanitation Professionals Network (Kenya), Water Company Brasov (Romania).

Please note: countries noted below similarly only represent the countries in which Equal Aqua current partner institutions are located. The other beneficiaries include the respective countries of water institutions that have or will continue to benefit.

Additional information
Related videos, analytics (Breaking Barriers report), knowledge events are on the Equal Aqua website cited above.

Goal 5

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Goal 5

5.1

End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

5.1.1

Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non‑discrimination on the basis of sex

5.2

Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
5.2.1

Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age

5.2.2

Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence

5.3

Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation
5.3.1

Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18

5.3.2

Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age

5.4

Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate

5.4.1

Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location

5.5

Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life

5.5.1

Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments

5.5.2

Proportion of women in managerial positions

5.6

Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

5.6.1

Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care

5.6.2

Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education

5.a

Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

5.a.1

(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure

5.a.2

Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control

5.b

Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
5.b.1

Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex

5.c

Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

5.c.1

Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment

Goal 6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Goal 6

6.1

By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all

6.1.1

Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services

6.2

By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations

6.2.1

Proportion of population using (a) safely managed sanitation services and (b) a hand-washing facility with soap and water

6.3

By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally

6.3.1

Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated

6.3.2

Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality

6.4

By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity
6.4.1

Change in water-use efficiency over time

6.4.2

Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources

6.5

By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate

6.5.1

Degree of integrated water resources management 

6.5.2

Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation

6.6

By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
6.6.1

Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time

6.a

By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies
6.a.1

Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan

6.b

Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management

6.b.1

Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

Goal 8

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 8

8.1

Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries
8.1.1

Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita

8.2

Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

8.2.1

Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person

8.3

Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

8.3.1

Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex

8.4

Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead

8.4.1

Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

8.4.2

Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP

8.5

By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
8.5.1

Average hourly earnings of female and male employees, by occupation, age and persons with disabilities

8.5.2

Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities

8.6

By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training
8.6.1

Proportion of youth (aged 15-24 years) not in education, employment or training

8.7

Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms

8.7.1

Proportion and number of children aged 5‑17 years engaged in child labour, by sex and age

8.8

Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment

8.8.1

Fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, by sex and migrant status

8.8.2

Level of national compliance with labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status

8.9

By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

8.9.1

Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate

8.10

Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all

8.10.1

(a) Number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults and (b) number of automated teller machines (ATMs) per 100,000 adults

8.10.2

Proportion of adults (15 years and older) with an account at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider

8.a

Increase Aid for Trade support for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, including through the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries
8.a.1

Aid for Trade commitments and disbursements

8.b

By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization

8.b.1

Existence of a developed and operationalized national strategy for youth employment, as a distinct strategy or as part of a national employment strategy

Goal 10

Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 10

10.1

By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average

10.1.1

Growth rates of household expenditure or income per capita among the bottom 40 per cent of the population and the total population

10.2

By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status

10.2.1

Proportion of people living below 50 per cent of median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities

10.3

Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard

10.3.1

Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed within the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law

10.4

Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality

10.4.1

Labour share of GDP

10.4.2

Redistributive impact of fiscal policy

10.5

Improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the implementation of such regulations

10.5.1

Financial Soundness Indicators

10.6

Ensure enhanced representation and voice for developing countries in decision-making in global international economic and financial institutions in order to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions
10.6.1

Proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in international organizations

10.7

Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies

10.7.1

Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of montlhy income earned in country of destination

10.7.2

Number of countries with migration policies that facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people

10.7.3

Number of people who died or disappeared in the process of migration towards an international destination

10.7.4

Proportion of the population who are refugees, by country of origin

10.a

Implement the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in accordance with World Trade Organization agreements
10.a.1

Proportion of tariff lines applied to imports from least developed countries and developing countries with zero-tariff

10.b

Encourage official development assistance and financial flows, including foreign direct investment, to States where the need is greatest, in particular least developed countries, African countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their national plans and programmes
10.b.1

Total resource flows for development, by recipient and donor countries and type of flow (e.g. official development assistance, foreign direct investment and other flows)

10.c

By 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent

10.c.1

Remittance costs as a proportion of the amount remitted

Goal 13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Goal 13

13.1

Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

13.1.1

Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population

13.1.2

Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030

13.1.3

Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies

13.2

Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning

13.2.1

Number of countries with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

13.2.2

Total greenhouse gas emissions per year

13.3

Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

13.3.1

Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

13.a

Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

13.a.1

Amounts provided and mobilized in United States dollars per year in relation to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the $100 billion commitment through to 2025

13.b

Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities


 

13.b.1

Number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Name Description
Expand benchmarking (and associated data) on gender diversity in water institutions (compared to 2020 baseline)
Disseminate tools and evidence on gender diversity to water institutions in order to facilitate scaling up of concrete targets.
Expand the breadth, depth, and accessibility of capacity building efforts to diversify the water workforce (translating materials into multiple languages, training opportunities developed)
Staff / Technical expertise
Technical expertise of staff to advise selected water institutions on improving gender diversity in terms of improved attraction, recruitment, retention and promotion of female staff.
Other, please specify
Tools (E-learning courses, standardized frameworks and guidance, scorecards) that water institutions can use to improve gender diversity and empowerment of women in the water workforce.
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Timeline
01 January 2020 (start date)
01 December 2025 (date of completion)
Entity
World Bank
SDGs
5 6 8 10 13
Region
  1. Africa
  2. Europe
  3. Asia and Pacific
  4. Latin America and the Caribbean
  5. West Asia
  6. Global
Other beneficiaries

Equal Aqua supports more than 40 projects in 32 countries regions receiving World Bank support, with over 120 water utilities worldwide. The following countries have benefited and or will continue to benefit from equal aqua support: Albania, Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Peru, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Tunisia, Brazil, Cambodia, Haiti, West Bank and Gaza.

Countries
Argentina
Argentina
Brazil
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Ghana
Ghana
Kenya
Kenya
Romania
Romania
Sweden
Sweden
United States of America
United States of America
Contact Information

Sarah, Senior Social Development Specialist

skeener@worldbank.org