-----Original Message----- From: Kimberley Baldwin (by way of frieda werden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, November 11, 1999 6:06 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [GSN] water and gender From: Kimberley Baldwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (by way of frieda werden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) These women are working on the issue of women and water management worldwide. I have forwarded their message to you because you may have some contacts or be interested in this issue yourself. I can hardly imagine a more important issue for the women of the world.--Frieda Werden Amsterdam, 26 October 1999 Dear Colleagues, If, after reading this letter, you are interested in joining a listserve in which to particpate in decisions concerning women and water management in the next century please let us know and our data processor can add you. thanks. Dear Colleague, The IIAV* has launched a special project to highlight women's concerns regarding the management of global water resources. Its main focus is to infiltrate women's opinions and analysis on this vital issue into the World Water Forum, a global ministerial meeting on water that is to be held here in Holland in March 2000. Our aim is to invite women's groups from all over the planet to send us their views on the current hindrances to effective and sustainable water management, and put these views together for submission to the ministerial meeting. In this effort, we are supported by the World Water Vision, a large-scale consultative venture launched by UNESCO. To make this project a success, we would like to request some assistance from you. We would like to contact all women's organisations and networks currently involved in water projects in all parts of the globe. We are certain that you will be in touch with several such organisations and would be very grateful if you would help us to identify and make contact with them. These organisations may be working in the fields of agriculture, sustainable development, urban water supply management, technology or education. So as to give the women's organisations sufficient time to consider, discuss and draw up the recommendations they would like to submit to the ministerial conference, it is somewhat urgent that we begin corresponding with them as soon as possible. Would you be willing to assist us in this matter? We would be extremely grateful if you would send us a list of organisations as soon as you can, or provide a channel by which we can find them ourselves. Sincerely, Lin Pugh. Manager, Knowledge Sharing, IIAV. Amsterdam, 26 October 1999 Dear Colleagues, As you probably know, the second World Water Forum will be held in March 2000 in Holland. This global conference of government Ministers responsible for water will attract a great deal of attention and establish international policy regarding this crucial issue for the next century. Water, is, naturally, a women's concern - though one mightn't recognise this from the number of women who participate in national and international water management organisations. We here at IIAV believe it is crucial that, at this time, women's concerns regarding water management should penetrate into the realms where decisions are being made that will affect our own and our children's lives for generations to come. We regard the World Water Forum as an excellent opportunity to ensure that women's concerns are taken into consideration. Research shows that equitable access for women to decisionmaking about water is crucial to the survival, not only of our species, but of the planet itself. We support the approach enunciated in Beijing that the most effective way to ensure equitable and sustainable use of water on a global level is through the mainstreaming of a gender approach in all water management planning, decision-making and administration. We believe that this approach needs to be agreed on at the highest international levels, and to percolate throughout the water management sector, which is currently highly technocratic and male-engineer-dominated. But, for this to happen, there needs to be a concerted demand from citizens' organisations for a change in the international approach to water management. Organisations throughout the globe have to make their voices felt when government ministers, the press and other interested parties meet to discuss the future of water management in March 2000. To facilitate the development of a groundswell of opinion in this direction, the IIAV has decided to launch a special networking effort aimed at prioritising water issues within the agendas of women's organisations for the next five months. Our plan is to solicit opinions and analysis regarding water management from as wide a range of women's groups as possible, and infiltrate these into the international decision making process. The conduit for these opinions will be the World Water Vision, launched by the World Water Council and the World Bank, which has been developing a broad-based vision of more effective and equitable water management for presentation to the ministerial conference. The World Water Vision has held, and is continuing to hold, a series of consultations in various regions of the world to generate interest and draw out approaches and opinions from a wide section of the world's population. We here at IIAV have decided to throw in our lot with this effort. We have agreed to solicit opinions drawn from a wide cross-section of the women's movement and present these to the Vision Project for delivery to the World Water Forum. We would, of course, like to have the input of your organisation, and of other organisations in your network that you suggest. How to Participate Basically, we would be very pleased to receive your analysis, comments and concerns on any aspect of the water-and-gender issue. You can provide this via our electronic listserve. To subscribe to this listserve, please send an e-mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message area, type: subscribe Water yourfirst name yourlast name. Or visit our website: www.iiav.nl/knowhow/water.html. We hope the listserve will generate further discussion, and participants will feel free to respond to contributions by others and post issues, concerns, questions and enquiries. If electronic methods are not convenient to you, you can also communicate with us by regular mail or fax. 1. We would like to know if you are working on issues related to water (including agricultural issues, environmental issues or health issues). We would welcome information on projects you are undertaking in this field and would be happy to receive any reports or analytical pieces which you have generated on this issue, so as to advertise these on our website, and circulate them via the listserve. We should also like any information you may have about other related publications on this subject. 2. We would like to make available to you a background document (called Mainstreaming Gender in Water Resources Management: Why and How) prepared by a group of women with expertise in this field. You may read it on our website in PDF format, or we can send it to you by by email. If you cannot access PDF files, we can send it to you by ordinary mail. Unfortunately, this will take longer. But if it is the only way, please let us know. We would be grateful if you would circulate the document among individuals and organisations in your network, discuss the issues it raises, and send us your own views and responses. We would be very pleased to incorporate these into a general report we will submit to the World Water Vision at the end of November. You could make a very valuable contribution if you: * Identify the most important water issues for your constituency * Point to the factors which affect women's participation in water management * Suggest approaches, changes and institutional responses necessary for effective gender mainstreaming. Please let us know whether you are interested in participating in this exercise as soon as you possibly can. Then we will hold a place in the final document for your contribution. We would also be extremely grateful if you would suggest other groups we should contact, and give this initiative exposure through your organisational media. If you would like to look into other documents relating to this subject, you may visit the websites: http://worldwaterforum.org and http://www.oneworld.org/ircwater. We also welcome any suggestions you may have for furthering this effort and look forward to hearing from you. Please reply to our communications officer, Kimberly Baldwin, at [EMAIL PROTECTED], or to our project consultant, Niala Maharaj, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you for your co-operation. With my best wishes, Lin Pugh Manager, Knowledge Sharing Program, IIAV --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- Independent contractors: Find your next project gig through JobSwarm! You can even make $$$ by referring friends. <a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/jobswarm2 ">Click Here</a> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
