Women’s Participation in Water Resource Management in Central Asia
Do you know that at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, it was agreed that «Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water».
This is particularly true for Central Asian countries.
Therefore, it’s important to strengthen women's involvement in water management.
In 2020, a project was implemented in support of young academics at universities and research institutes in Central Asia and Afghanistan who are conducting research in the fields of:
— water and energy conservation,
— climate change,
— gender aspects of water resource management.
The project team has convened a series of online conferences on gender in water resource management (access to the resource at http://cakn.online/en/gender-water/).
The project was implemented by:
— The World Bank Group’s Central Asia Knowledge Network (WBG CAKN), under the Central Asia Water and Energy Program (CAWEP)
— in partnership with the Kazakh-German University (DKU).
The conferences resulted in a compilation of annotated articles: «Practical Outlook on Gender Issues in the Water Resources Sector», produced by the participants (http://cakn.online/wp-content/uploads/collection_eng.pdf).
These events have provided important opportunities for young scientists, researchers, international and regional experts, and students to discuss key gender concerns in water resource management and to promote capacity development among all people in the local community.
The project has assisted in the preparation of four scientific articles on this topic that have now been published in the Central Asian Journal of Water Research (CAJWR, http://academic-waters.org/en/research/central-asian-journal-water-research/). This journal is published by the Natural Resources Institute at DKU.
The Bank’s Central Asia Knowledge Network team will continue to pursue activities aimed at raising awareness, training, and sharing cross-boundary knowledge among women in 2021.
For further information please contact Julia Komagaeva, the project’s Team Leader, CAKN Coordinator (jkomagaeva@worldbank.org).