CKM Team Updates to Globalwaters.org
Technical Brief: USAID Water and Development Technical Series: Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in WASH – This Water and Development Technical Brief provides guidance for designing strategies, projects, and activities that improve women’s and girl’s empowerment in WASH.
Activities should account for women and girls as more than beneficiaries of water and sanitation services. They are consumers, customers, influencers, professionals, household deciders, and keepers of traditional knowledge and solutions. Water and sanitation activities that empower women to be change agents have multiple benefits.
Participatory approaches are key. Gender-related barriers to WASH vary widely by geographic, religious, legal, and cultural context, and whether multiple layers of vulnerability––such as disability or extreme poverty––exist. Programs must take the time to understand the preferences, needs, and experiences of the women and girls and the specific barriers they face. The economic, health, educational, environmental, and social benefits to women’s empowerment in the water and sanitation sector must be a priority for all.
