WECF and WfW at the Stockholm World Water Week, August 2006
Exchanging experiences on water and sanitation, from local to international
05.10.2006 |Sabine Bock
Members meeting of Women for Water Partnership
WECF activities at the Water Week
11 delegated members of 7 countries of the WECF network came to attend the various sessions, refresh their knowledge and pass knowledge on - like Ms. Diana Iskreva, director of The Earth Forever Foundation, EFF. EFF is a member of WECF in Bulgaria and Ms. Iskreva gave a presentation about „The Next Generation – Partnering up with the Youth“ at the Partnership in Action Session. A session about the possibilities for sustainable sanitation and hygiene solutions.
Stockholm became also the place of our WECF water working group meeting. We reflected about the past activities, looked at the current status of them and planned for the future. Sustainable ecological sanitation will remain one of the key elements of our work. It seemed that even among the experts at the Water Week, ecological sanitation is still not well known – and it was important to share our experiences with pilot projects in rural areas of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia and Afghanistan.
At the end of the week the international Women for Water, Water for Women Partnership Network had their members meeting. WECF is cofounder and part of this network, which wants to strengthen the ability and capacity of women all over the world to improve their water and sanitation situation and exchange knowledge. The WfW members agreed on a workplan and budget for the period 2006 – 2007. Key activities will include 2 regional WfW conferences in 2007, in the Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian region, and in the African region.
The motto of the Stockholm Water week: Beyond the river - sharing benefits and responsibilities. This issue concerns WECF Ukrainian partner MAMA86 at the especially. They work together with partners at the Dnister Delta for a clean and healthy river and environment. One way to reach this is to implement water water treatment via ecosanitation. Everywhere the lack of reliable sanitation systems is a reason for the pollution of the rivers. Lack of solid waste management is another.
Swedish journalist interviewing Emma of Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment
What else has been addressed at the Water Week? Climate and Water related risks. Water governance, the fight against corruptancy in the water issue.
Women and Water
Women are taking an increasingly active role in setting water policies and in management and operation of water systems. In many countries, women are the ones who suffer foremost from lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, often because of traditional roles of taking care of the children and the family and having to look after the ill. WECF exchanges experience with different women organisations and networks to encourage women to change their situation by providing capacity building and financial support for implementation projects. At the same time, WECF makes the link between lessons learned locally and national and international policies; advocacy plays an important role in the common work.
Representatives of Tegemeo Group Tanzania and MAMA-86 at the Women for Water Members meeting
Final
At the World Water Week people from all over the world, with totally different backgrounds and perspectives - from NGOs, governments, scientific perspective, foundations, donors, appliers, young and old - came together and followed the claim of the Week: Building Capacity, Promoting Partnership, Reviewing Implementation. The Women for Water partnership planned to hold next year's members meeting again during the Stockholm Water Week.
