Ensuring Women Participation and Empowerment for Water and Development
The European Commission's 2011 Water Project Toolkit provides guidance at each stage of a development/cooperation project in the water sector, linking the latter to agriculture (water supply, irrigation), energy (hydropower) and cross-cutting issues such as gender. Women are key actors in managing the water and food supply and so, the health of their family and their community. It is demonstrated that women’s involvement and the consideration of their specific needs, constraints and priorities in water projects lead to better impacts on the management of natural resources and living conditions. Despite their practical responsibilities and the fact that they produce 60-80% of the food in developing countries and are mainly in charge of fetching water, women are still not considered enough.