IWMI Gender and Inclusion Strategy 2020-2023: new landscapes of water equality and inclusion

Abstract

The Gender and Inclusion Strategy 2020-2023 of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) supports implementation of the IWMI Strategy 2019-20231. This is done by ensuring that gender equality and inclusion are central to the Institute’s three Strategic Programs – water, food and ecosystems; water, climate change and resilience; and water, growth and inclusion – and to its fourth crosscutting program pillar on digital innovations. IWMI’s mission is to provide water solutions for sustainable, climate-resilient development. This responds to international policy concerns about global systems changing in ways that heighten the vulnerability of millions of poor people, impact on species diversity, and ultimately, risk future achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). IWMI’s past research on gender and water, over many decades, in Asia, Africa and the Middle East shows that real progress cannot be achieved if water investments, innovations and interventions do not respond to the complexities of inequality and exclusion, including the rapid nature of food, water, climate and social system transformations.