Mainstreaming Gender Dimensions into Water Resources Development and Management in the Mediterranean Region GEWAMED PROJECT Presented by Barbara Tomassini MIO-ECSDE

 The GEWAMED project has started on 15 February 2006 with a duration of 4 years;  Promoted and coordinated by CIHEAM- MAIB (Bari);  Coordinated Action (CA) of the INCO programme (FP6);  It intends to generate new knowledge through communication & coordination of the participating institutions; GEWAMED

Objectives  Support gender mainstreaming in all processes related to IWRM at regional and national levels in the Med;  Enhance cooperation and dialogue among Mediterranean countries but also within each country;  Contribute to the adoption of national policies and other related instruments for mainstreaming gender dimensions in IWRM;  Beneficiaries: women, women organizations & gender institutions, IWRM Stakeholders;

Partners  A total of 18 institutions from 14 MC: 9 Governmental institutions 9 Governmental institutions 2 International organizations 2 International organizations 7 NGOs 7 NGOs  9 SEMR* and 5 EU countries;  Some institutions have good experience in water and others in gender but few in both; * South East Mediterranean Region (SEMR) countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

Working strategy GEWAMED takes advantage of the expertise of partners (GOs, IGOS, NGOs etc) to gather, process, produce & diffuse widely information on water and gender related issues, while supporting the creation of multi-stakeholders dialogues further contributing to disseminate knowledge and to involve decision-makers and politicians in efforts towards the improvement of women's conditions in the water sector.

Key activities (1/3) Building a national and regional shared knowledge base:  Assessment of women situation in IWRM in a number of participating countries; This assessment has provided evidence of many inequities.  Establishment of a Regional Internet Web Site containing a structured Data Base with gender- water related information and several national institutions websites

Key activities (2/3) Enhance cooperation and dialogue at regional and national levels  3 regional workshops on specific gender and water issues;  National Networks in SEMR countries for coordinating actions and information on gender and water issues;  Exchange of experiences among participating institutions;

Key activities (3/3) Contribute to the adoption of national policies and other related instruments for mainstreaming gender dimensions in IWRM  National seminars in SEMR countries to sensitise politicians and decision-makers on gender issues;  Plans for using and disseminating the knowledge generated by the project;

Lessons learnt (1/2)  Good gender & water resources info base (+)  Regional & national communication networks in SEMR countries; (+/-)  List of gender sensitive indicators in IWRM(+/-)  Regional and national websites; (+/-)  Strong dissemination policy at international and national level; (+)

Lessons learnt (2/2)  Intervention in policy-making at Med level; (+/-)  GEWAMED inspired the creation of a rural women’s observatory in Lebanon;(+)  Cooperation between partners still needs improvements; (+/-)

Recommendations  Raise political attention on “genderization” of IWRM;  Coordination and institutional capacity on gender issues through multi & cross- sectoral interventions;  Strengthen National & Regional multistakeholders networks created during GEWAMED;

Recommendations  Education and awareness actions to support positive changes in social and cultural norms that cause inequality;  Extension services, gender specialists and training;  Access to information;

Open questions & current challenges  Regional Strategies (ENP, EMP, Barcelona Convention etc) aware of the urgency to streamline gender issues in National policies/programmes but this is not translated effectively into practice yet;  Scarcity of gender analysis & gender- disaggregated statistical information;  Media & Parliamentarians as potential future important partners;  More rigorous enforcement of existing guidelines for gender mainstreaming in water development and management activities.

GEWAMED