Gender equality eyes water management
A novel approach to water management in developing Mediterranean countries has aimed to involve women in the process, even if cultural traditions have often sidelined women's potential in this field. The EU-funded project 'Integration of gender dimension in water management in the Mediterranean' (Ingedi) encouraged governments and international organisations to adopt gender policies in this respect. The project initiated vibrant dialogue that considers women's roles at local and national levels, particularly in sustainable agriculture. It looked at how policy formation and economic analysis could help achieve the project's goals. Ingedi hoped to overcome barriers to gender responsive sustainable development in this way, strengthening women's crucial contributions to society and helping to bring cleaner water to communities. Two important events helped ensure the success of the project, namely the Euro-Mediterranean Workshop and the post-workshop on training the trainers to boost dissemination of workshop results. Through these activities, Ingedi promoted new policies on gender issues and strengthened collaboration between northern and southern Mediterranean countries on the topic significantly. Ingedi then established partnerships to help upgrade rural women's working conditions and encourage their active involvement in water resource management. It produced a handbook to assist stakeholders in achieving these objectives and recommendations, in addition to establishing a website that would further knowledge dissemination. With these accomplishments, women are one small step closer to gender equality around the Mediterranean, and managing scarce water resources is one of the vehicles that facilitates this dream.