Information
Water is a basic need for all life. The provision of sufficient water and adequate sanitation is a key factor in combating poverty. In many parts of the world, women play a central role in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. Despite the general acknowledgement that public participation and gender equality are prerequisites for good water governance, local stakeholders, especially the women in the community, are often excluded from decision making and development processes.

What is the Women for Water Initiative?
Since 1999 an increasing number of (inter)national women’s organizations have joined forces in the Women for Water Initiative. We are working together on water, sustainable development, poverty eradication and gender. Women for Water was initiated by the Netherlands Council of Women (NVR), Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) and Business & Professional Women (BPWI) with the objective of creating an enabling environment for full and equal public participation in the development and implementation of sustainable water and sanitation projects, policies and programmes and to provide the frequently missing link between bottom-up and top-down processes.

What is the Women for Water Database?
The Women for Water database is an interactive instrument to disclose the needs and available know how in the field and to support the formation of partnerships at the local level. This gender sensitive information base will be linked to existing water related information systems allowing for optimal availability and use of local expertise and knowledge, and gender disaggregated data. The Database will expand to include tools for gender responsive budgeting and project evaluation including facilitating and hindering factors.
It is important that the necessity and benefits of including grassroots women’s groups in water management become widely known. Furthermore, through the Database potential partners can find each other; information and expertise can be shared, projects can be expanded and upgraded. The Women for Water Database is available on the internet http://www.womenforwater.org. and is updated on a regular basis. You don’t have to be connected to e-mail or Internet yourself to benefit from this. Others will find you via your contact information.
To protect the privacy of information, organizations can choose to have their information stored in a password protected area of the database. This area will be accessible only to the NVR and its partners.

Who can join the Database?

• All established NGOs/women’s group that want their organization, skills, needs, and/or projects to be known to others. Your data will be placed in the public domain of the Women for Water Database.
• Vulnerable groups, new starters and other groups/organizations that do not (yet) wish to disclose full information on the internet, can be part of a restricted area of the Women for Water Database. Participants will be guaranteed privacy, but will be approached by the Women for Water Initiative for inclusion/ participation in relevant new partnerships or projects, according to their needs/request.

If you have relevant information for the Women for Water Database, you are kindly requested to fill out the registration form.
Answer all questions as completely and clearly as possible. Use a new form for every entry.

The form can be filled out online.
Completed form(s) using the attached format can also be sent to:
Women for Water Database, Nederlandse Vrouwenraad, Louise de Colignystraat 44,
2595 SR The Hague, the Netherlands
or fax + 31-70-3459346 or e-mail: [email protected]

For questions or more information please contact: [email protected]