National Training workshops on Women, Water Supply and Sanitation
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (1997).
New York, United Nations
It is recognized that better performance and sustainability of WSS projects result from women's involvement. The need to develop strategies to involve women systematically and effectively in the WSS sector has led to the implementation of national workshops demonstrating the use of already tested U.N. training modules on women, water supply and sanitation to potential national trainees. These trainees are then expected to assist countries in developing such strategies to improve the performance and sustainability of their WSS projects.
This report analyses Phase I of the project, implemented in 1996/97, which involved 30 potential trainees, policy planners and decision makers in the WSS sector in each of four countries in the Asia-Pacific region; namely, the Philippines, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Viet Nam and Thailand. In view of the rapidly increasing water demand in this area, the project aimed at promoting women's participation in the WSS sector to ensure the efficient use of water resources, integrating the role of women into national WSS programmes and identifying priority areas for promoting the role of women in the protection and management of water resources.
In the Philippines, five sessions enabled the participants to devise an action plan: (1) to develop modules on women, water supply and sanitation to be used by government managers; (2) to include a gender profile in existing data on WSS; (3) to institutionalize women's involvement and participation by policies and structures; (4) to evaluate current training programmes and capacity-building activities for women's involvement in WSS; (5) to strengthen institutional mechanics for mainstreaming gender and development into local government plans and projects; (6) to tap the Social Development Fund for continued implementation of projects on women, water supply and sanitation in the provinces; (7) to advocate policies requiring women on the governing board of every government institution; and (8) to develop community-based programmes to empower women.
Three priority topics were discussed by participants in Lao People's Democratic Republic including: involvement of women in planning, choice of technology and implementation of projects and in operation and maintenance; the role of the community, especially those working with the Lao Women's Union, in decision-making in WSS projects; and the role of women in hygiene education and environmental protection. From these three, project proposals were formulated: to train women in WSS, to promote the role and participation of women in WSS, and to promote the role of women in community-based WSS services. The Lao Women's Union was to have a vital role in implementing all three projects.
The Viet Nam participants recommended that the Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation work with the Viet Nam Women's Union to improve mechanisms for the dissemination of information and education in WSS especially aimed at women; that the role and participation of women in rural WSS be clearly defined and promoted; that project procedures and manuals include items on women's participation in the study, planning, development and management of rural WSS projects; and that all related agencies collaborate to implement a national rural WSS strategy to supply 80% of the rural population with drinking water and appropriate sanitation by the year 2000.
The Thailand participants recognized the need to promote the role of women at the local level through training and through strategies such as increasing women's empowerment. They recommended that a national workshop be held to discuss a national policy on the involvement of women in the water resources sector since no concrete role for women had been proposed so far in developing a national policy and no clear mechanisms to link women's participation with the national water resources programme had been developed. They further recommended that the National Commission on Women's Affairs should hold a workshop to promote the role of women in water resources, and should undertake a pilot project in selected provinces to encourage women's participation in WSS.
Since Phase I has been deemed a success, the report proposes the implementation of Phase II of the project in order to consolidate the findings and recommendations of Phase I for better strategies to promote the role and participation of women in the WSS sector throughout the region.
