NGO Echo administrates activity of Central Asia and Afghanistan Women and Water Association.
A regional workshop entitled “Empowerment of Women in Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Central Asia and Afghanistan” that was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, 16-18 June, 2016. It provided an excellent opportunity to engage and empower women from the region and allowed for regional network building. At this meeting, more than 40 participants from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Romania, Germany, Italy, and the United States participated representing their countries, research institutes, or international organizations. The main purpose was to engage and create a new network of women scientists, engineers, managers, and policy makers in the discussion and decision making process of critical issues regarding improved scientific understanding of the resource, promotion of open data policy, increasing access to water, and enhancing job opportunities with increased responsibilities of women in the region in order to improve inter-governmental and transboundary collaboration. The meeting was a tremendous success with suggestions for future actions.
At the conclusion of this 2016 workshop, participants expressed their interest in continuing efforts to establish an association to work on gender issues in water resource management in Central Asia and Afghanistan. In particular, they requested to engage more women professionals working in the water management sector in the network, create information platforms to exchange and facilitate learning and career development, develop a regional organization addressing common gender issues in the sector, as well as partner with ongoing global and regional programs such as those by the UNESCO WWAP, WfWP, USGS, and the German-Kazakh University. .Local professional women carried out activities and created a regional Central Asia and Afghanistan Women and Water Association (CAAWWA) that includes representation from all Central Asian countries including Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. The official launch of CAAWWA occurred in July 12-13, 2017. At that meeting selected leaders from Central Asia and Afghanistan adopted a mission statement, created and adopted bylaws, and established a Steering Committee (SC) for the organization. They also welcomed the creation of an International Advisory Committee. The meeting represented a transfer of initiative and decision making from USGS, SEF, and U.S. State Department to local women water professionals representing their countries in the region. After the strategy meeting in July 2017, the SC carried out significant work to create the network and further the development of the organization through projects and outreach activities in the region.
CAAWWA mission statement:
“Enhancing opportunities of women in scientific, technical and political aspects in water resources management and climate change issues, building up capacity, improving their career development and engage them in decision making processes to strengthen international cooperation.”
The association is governed by an elected six-person Steering Committee. A secretariat implements SC decisions and carries out day-to-day functions. The SC adopted an action plan consistent with the outcomes of the June 2016 workshop on the empowerment of women in water resource management in Central Asia and Afghanistan
Source of information https://caawwa.org/?page_id=967
