'Nobody misses out' – creating an equitable water system for all

This year, World Water Day (22 March 2023) coincides with the start of the United Nations 2023 Water Conference in New York. For the first time in nearly 50 years, governments and stakeholders are meeting to accelerate progress on the International Decade (2018–2028) for Action and other key targets.

GHD Principal Alison Baker is attending the Conference as part of a wider GHD and Australian delegation. Alison is the Fund Manager for Water for Women, a $155-million flagship water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program funded by the Australian Government. In this article, Alison unpacks the importance of the program from a gender equity and social inclusion perspective, revealing how lessons learned from small, community-level WASH projects can be applicable at all scales across the water sector.

In our work, it's impossible to separate the social, cultural, economic and environmental context of local communities from the provision of effective water solutions. And I believe this same principle of ‘contextualised solutions’ can and should apply in more built-up urban centres. Whether a complex, utility-scale water system servicing a heavily developed city, or an off-grid, distributed system tailored to the needs of an informal settlement, fit-for-purpose infrastructure must be adapted to meet specific community needs.

At a local government and grassroots level, the projects supported by Water for Women powerfully demonstrate this interconnectedness between community context and the delivery of appropriate water and sanitation outcomes. Our partners work directly with national and sub-national governments, local organisations and communities across the Indo-Pacific region to deliver WASH projects – often we are working with Indigenous, minority and marginalised communities in remote locations, including those with disabilities. Because we operate at the local level, our projects must be directly shaped by the needs of local people if they are to be sustainable.

This becomes particularly important when seeking to enhance gender equity and social inclusion, which are deeply influenced by access to water and sanitation. In many traditional cultures, for instance, women are primarily responsible for sourcing water. Collecting water can be laborious, time-consuming and in some places, unsafe. It is estimated that women and girls across the world spend 200 million hours collecting water every day. Another example is the location of sanitation facilities. Ensuring toilets are accessible inside rather than outside the home, for instance, can reduce exposure to gender-based violence. Yet these women often are not included in the decision-making processes that impact them directly – Water for Women and other global programs are encouraging diverse leadership and seeing the benefits to everyone.

Because every community is different, it’s important to get to the heart of what motivates change and establish a framework of ‘mutual accountability’, so that services and solutions are locally embraced, delivered and maintained over the long-term. Understanding social norms and behaviours is necessary to facilitate the adoption of both new WASH infrastructure and different sanitation behaviours, as well as creating new and diverse leaders to be involved in decision-making. Empathy and education, along with the right enabling environment, are key.

To increase awareness and understanding of the value of toilets in a Cambodian community, for example, our partners iDE Global and Thrive Networks train and mobilise local workforce representatives and women-led businesses who have a deeper understanding of cultural values and context. These teams consult with the poor and marginalised people in the community to help them understand the importance of proper sanitation systems, supporting households to make appropriate toilet or latrine purchases. The groups also encourage ongoing behaviour change around hygiene practices, such as hand washing with soap. Through this targeted approach, women leaders have emerged as communities and local governments begin to understand the value they could bring.

The UN Water Conference is taking place because we need to accelerate action on water commitments globally. We need to mobilise communities large and small to make them a part of the solution – 'scale up, scale out and scale deep'. By that we mean scaling up through institutional and policy change; scaling out our innovations and solutions to reach wider populations; and scaling deep to generate the behavioural change needed to adopt new technologies, approaches, and ideas. Solutions will look different in every context, but the approach must stay the same – empower people in the local community.

Considering the wider context of water projects should not begin and end with international development projects, like those supported by Water for Women. Taking time to create a two-way dialogue with the local community is an approach that can be applied to water projects of all scales – whether at a household level in remote villages, or across a whole urban region. Thinking holistically in this way will enable positive outcomes that respect nature and nurture communities in both developing and developed contexts – from designing resilient infrastructure that is sensitive to local ecosystems, to encouraging behaviour change to reduce water use, or making water and sanitation systems more accessible to disadvantaged members of the community.

Ultimately, if we take time to put people at the heart of our solutions we will achieve longer-lasting community benefits at all levels. At a time when the world needs greater consensus on water action, an approach that is sensitive to the unique needs of people, place – and planet – is not just timely, but essential. It’s a human-centric approach that not only helps bridge the equity and inclusion divide across societies but also puts climate justice front-and-centre in our global efforts to better manage water and adapt to change.

It’s time to move away from treating water as a commodity to be controlled to instead, recognising its intrinsic value as a natural, balanced cycle. To shift to integrated, system-wide solutions, embracing a broader understanding of water’s whole, circular picture. To combine engineering and artistry to deliver truly elegant outcomes.

That’s where GHD comes in – where we can make a meaningful difference, together with our clients. And that’s where the Future of Water lies; a future that’s ours for the taking.

Find out more ghd.com/FutureofWater

About GHD

GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy, and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 12,000+ professionals is connected across 160 offices located on five continents.