FT2.34

Session FT 2.34

Bottom-up meets Top-down: Learning lessons from Latin America and Africa

Conveners

Women for Water Partnership (WfWfW), part of the Women’s Coalition

Only when bottom-up (local actions) meets top-down (policy level) an enabling environment for gender sensitive IWRM is created and could be replicated in other places. For the different major groups in society (government, private sector, women, youth, indigenous people, etc) to play their different complementary roles and to work together an enabling environment for dialogue and exchange is crucial.
From the working methods of the Women for Water partnership (WfWfW) five key messages have been derived. These five key messages are illustrated with five local actions from different parts of the world.

Leasons Learned

The importance of social development and empowerment of women as prerequisites for sustainable development and management of water resources is generally acknowledged. The local actions amply demonstrate the added value of women’s active involvement in this process: local ownership, needs-based approach, addressing the various needs in the community, educating families through the women.
Entrepeneurship is a powerful tool for development and is increasingly addressed by investors engaged in social and environmental accountibility.
WfWfW partnership is instrumental in sensitising financial, policy and technical sector to this bottom-up meets top-down approach (f.i. through working conferences).
A major restraint for women’s full and active participation is that they lack the financial means to act out their essential role. Although women are known to do big things with little money, while usually little things are being done with big money and despite the fact that the central role of women in IWRM and sustainable development in general is internationally acknowedged, funding hardly reaches women’s organisations, especialy women’s groups working at the grassroots level.
Good governance (both governments and businesses) is essential. Bottom-up initiatives are often hampered by corruption, thus a dis-enabling environment (Kemi Awoyinka, Wetlands International). If we only stress the positive effects as demonstrated in the key messages and local actions presented, and fail to address the issue of corruption, bottom-up will not meet top-down.
Business sector is needed to reach MDG 7 target on water & sanitation. There are ample good examples of Public Private partnerships that work from corporate social and environmental accountability. Business is also not restricted to multinationals. Local businesses working with other major groups can contribute significantly. WfWfW partners have good experience with involving local buniess sector. But funding (especially seed money) remains a main contraint, especially at initial stage.
Local ownership is essential. If timely and properly initiated, it will cause snow-ball effect in execution phase.

Key messages

Only when top-down meets bottom-up an enabling environment for sustainable development is created.
In order to have gender responsive local actions women’s voices have to be brought in to influence policies through networking and coalition building.
From vulnerable groups to partners: women take responsibility for their own development. Women take up whatever tool available to create an enabling environment for themselves and their communities.
Local ownership and early involvement of participants at the lowest appropriate level are crucial for sustainable solutions, but difficult to realise in practise. Ilustrated by the local actions of Zambia and Lesotho.
Social mechanisms – capacity building and local empowerment are the key to successful sustainable technical solutions, however in practise often overlooked.
Women are catalyst for community development. Make women aware of their ability to contribute to development. A female role model can play a very important part in this.

Orientations for action

Expand from social empowerment to include economic planning. Sustainable development has 3 dimensions; the economic dimension is underrepresented in the local actions and key messaged presented.
Women’s organisations should make more use of the opportunity to tap into the sources of the private sector.
Involve business and financial sector in early stages of planning of IWRM projects and programmes; the Women for Water partnership working conferences are a tool to facililitate this.
Business and financial sectors need to be sensitised to the bottom-up meets top-down approach; do not readily engage with/ support grassroots women’s organisations.
Governments have their responsibilities and should held accountable at all levels.
Education and water & sanitation facilities at schools are an entry point for development for water and sanitation improvements.
Take an integrated approach addressing all aspects of water management (water, waste water and sanitation) in the long term planning in implementation take one step at a time, addressing the most pressing needs of the local people first.
Empowerment of women and strenghtening their networks is a powerfull instrument in making the voice of women heard in the national and international policy arena. This inputting into policy processes based on local experiences and opinions is a cross-cutting issue that cannot be sufficiently stressed. Policy should root in gender equality and democracy and needs social build-up.

Local Actions presented

Women and Water Campaign

Ms. Asseny Muro, Tanzania Gender Networking Programme

The project targets women below poverty line and who lack access to reliable and safe water supply and sanitation services. The development goal is to provide and improve water supply and sanitation in rural Tanzania through full and equal participation of women. In addition to providing basic needs, gender equality in management of water resources will contribute actively to an integrated approach and hence to sustainable development. Furthermore the experience gained through this project will be developed into a tool for self sustenance and ownership as well as for cost-efficient up scaling of successful local initiatives.

Indigenous Women and Andean Wetlands Protection Protection and Tourist Exploitation - Chili

Ms. Maria Angelica Alegria, steering committee GWA, Chile

For centuries, indigenous communities from Northern Chile managed natural resources and environment on sustainable basis. Their holistic understanding and knowledge is noteworthy, specially in regard to the northern wetlands of Chile. Due to pressures to get water rights for non-agricultural uses outsiders started to drain the wetlands with the consequence of loss of flora and fauna as well as reducing control over and rights to of indigenous communities on natural resources. Thus, putting at risk the sustainability and survival of both local opulations and wetlands on which the communities depend.

Gender and water resources management and sanitation, case studies of Zambia and Lesotho

Ms. Abby Mgugu, Women's Land and Water Rights in Southern Africa

Providing water and sanitation in Uganda through women

Ms. Evelyn Otim, Women for Water and Sanitation, Uganda

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) will contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development, if implemented at the lowest appropriate level (Dublin Principle 2) and with the full and equal participation of women (Dublin Principle 3). For bottom-up and top-down processes to meet, the role of grassroots organisations needs to be acknowledged and local initiatives strengthened.

In rural areas of the developing world water and sanitation problems are intrinsically mixed. Therefore, sustainable IWRM solutions take both aspects into account. The burden and hazards for (rural) women with respect to water and sanitation are common knowledge. This project aims to bring into practise the CSD13 recommendations and previously agreed principles regarding water and sanitation focusing on Uganda’s rural women’s most pressing needs. Two pilots at the local level will be developed by Uganda grassroots women’s organisations in conjunction with relevant partners. Building upon the experiences gained through these pilots a self sustaining system will be developed involving micro financing as a tool for self sustenance and ownership as well as for cost-efficient up scaling of successful (local) initiatives.