Background
Water is being recognized as a valuable natural resource and an economic commodity that needs prudent management at all levels for sustainability of life on earth. This realization has led to a series of international seminars most important outcome of which was the Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development. The key points of the Dublin Statement were:

Freshwater is a finite & vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and environment

Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners & policy-makers at all levels.

Women play a central part in the provision, management & safeguarding of water.

Water has an economic value in all its competing used & should be recognized as an economic good.

Many efforts at international, regional and local levels have been made to translate the above statements in action. The Hague Ministerial Declaration on Water Security is a step forward in this direction. The principal message of this declaration regarding the effective management of water was:

Special attention should be paid to the poor, and to the role, skills and needs of women.

Commitment to advance collaboration based on partnerships and synergies amongst the Government and all stakeholders.

Identify best practices based on research and knowledge dissemination and sharing.

In order to translate the above ideas into actions and realize the envisaged goals the Global Water Partnership (GWP) was formed. This is a common platform of all stakeholders in the realm of water resources management at global level. GWP is still waiting to become a formal legal entity. Under this apex body, regional Water Partnerships are thought out to function. South Asia, where about a fifth of the global population lives, majority of them in appalling conditions in villages, slums and shanty towns, is a region where the water related problems are most acute and widespread. With an objective to address this problem, South Asia Technical Advisory Committee (SASTAC) has been formed. SASTAC is now working to formulate Country Water Partnerships (CWP) in the member countries of SAARC region. It is conceived at this stage that each CWP will have its own Area Water Partnerships (AWP). With the objective of empowering women by involving them effectively at all levels of decision-making, the notion of Women and Water Network (WWN) was born. The first regional meeting of WWN was held in Kathmandu, Nepal, during December 22-24, 2001. The main objective of the meeting was to make the country coordinators understand clearly the objectives and functions of WWN and chart out a plan of action for future. Representatives from all SAARC countries except Maldives participated in the three-day workshop. The detailed proceedings of the meeting follow. 

9:30 - 11:30

Session One Chairman I.R. Onta, Coordinator NWP

9:30 - 9:35

Introducton of Participants and Welcome
Mr. B.P. Daibagya

9:45 - 9:55

UNIFEM's support for Water Sector
Ms. Sangeeta Thapa

9:55 - 10:45

Women's Voices: Introduction to WWNs
Regional South Asia FFA and Gender Alliance, Ms. Simi Kamal

10:45 - 11:00

Chairman's Remarks

11:00 - 11:30

Tea Break

11:30 - 1:00

Session Two

11:30 - 12:00

Introduction to IWRM (GWP-TAC Background Paper # 4)
Ms. Venus Sahni

12:00 - 1:00

Objectives and Functions of WWN
Ms. Simi Kamal

1:00 - 1:30

Lunch Break

2:30 - 4:30

Session Three

2:30 - 3:30

Work accomplished so far in each country: Identification of women members/Water related women's organizations, what they have done, dominant water sectors, country program (if any) etc., Discussions

3:30 - 4:30

9:30 -1:30

Session One
Outline of Country Status Reports
Ms Simi Kamal
Tea Break
Discussion on common themes
Plan for WWN Work Program for 2002-2004
(A SASTAC Program)
Ms Simi Kamal and Dr. Vijaya Shrestha

1:30 - 2:30

Lunch Break

2:30 - 3:40

Session Two

2:30 - 3:30

3:30 - 3:40

Clarification of Roles
WWN being a complex network of different organizations, not all participants were clear, at the outset, about the roles each of the organizations is supposed to play. This was clarified by Dr. Vijaya Shrestha, Ms. Simi Kamal, Ms. Venus Sahni and finally by Dr. J.L. Karmacharya.

GWP
As the name Global Water Partnership suggests it will act as an apex body of all water partnership program. It will coordinate among all regional water partnerships in formulation of programs, budgeting and implementation.

SASTAC
This regional body will act as an advisory council to all the Country Water Partnerships in the region.

CWP
Each country in the SAARC region will have one Country Water Partnership which is a common forum of several organizations dealing with or involving water and women. Each CWP will have one host organization and at least one country coordinator.

AWP
Area Water Partnerships are the grass root level organizations formed preferably at each water basin. AWPs will identify the particular problems and issues in their own jurisdiction and take them to the CWP forum for discussions and finding solutions.

Discussions and Outcome of the Workshop
Introduction to WWN

Speaker : Ms. Simi Kamal, Pakistan
The third speaker of the morning session, Ms. Simi Kamal from Pakistan introduced the concept of Women and Water Network (WWN), its major objectives, the envisaged results and outcomes. Ms. Kamal explained about the structural model of the water partnership networks. The network will have Global Water Partnership (GWP) at its apex, supported by Regional Water Partnership (RWP), Country Water Partnership (CWP) and Area Water Partnership (AWP) at its lower tiers. This four tiered water partnership network will have linkages with other women and water related organizations at various levels, local, national and international. The major objective of WWN is to make the voices of women heard at various levels of decision-making. Subsequent discussions were focused on streamlining the objectives, functions, activities and outputs of WMN in greater details.

The first session ended with the chairperson’s remarks in which he appreciated the initiatives taken by WWN and invited more women professionals to join the mainstream of decision making in the government as well as the private sector.

Introduction to IWRM
Speaker : Ms. Venus Sahni, India

The second session after tea break started with Ms. Venus Sahni of India introducing the concept of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). She started her presentation by mentioning the importance attached to women’s role by the Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development and Agenda 21. She stressed on the fact that water is now increasingly recognized as an economic commodity and its optimal management is an issue of worldwide public concern. Water Scarcity being an acute problem in many regions of the world including South Asia, the necessity for effective and prudent management of water at all levels has led to increasing awareness for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). IWRM is defined as a balancing process for coordinating the development and management of water, and other related resources with the objective of attending water security. GWP has formulated the following definition of IWRM:

“ IWRM is a process which promote the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.”

Other key highlights of Ms. Sahni’s presentations were

What does Integration imply?
Integration implies a concern with upstream – downstream relations, including land use, coastal zone management, a unified management of surface and groundwater, a shift to management at a catchments or river basin level, and harmonizing water management with other sect oral policies with a collateral impact (trade, housing, agriculture, etd.). Quantity and quality concerns need to be reviewed in conjunction.

Attempting to ensure that governmental policies, financial priorities and planning (physical, economic and social) take account of the implications for water resources development, water related risks and water use;

Influencing private sector decision-makers to make technological, production and consumption choices based on the real value of water and the need to sustain the natural resources assets over time; and

Providing for a and mechanisms to ensure that all stakeholders can participate in water resources allocation decisions, conflict resolution and trade-off choices.

Ms. Simi Kamal of Pakistan reintroduced the topic of Objectives and Functions of WWN for discussion. After a long deliberations in which most participants actively and enthusiastically shared their ideas and opinions the objectives of WWN were finalized by the meeting:

On the third objective, after suggestions and discussions by various participants it was agreed that the viable models be identified and showcased. After agreeing on the objectives, the discussion continued on the proposed functions of the WWNs. After prolonged and lively discussion, the meeting finalized the following ten functions of the WWNs.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the workshop identified the following activities and their corresponding outputs.