24 Março 2023 - Women 4 Our Water

24 march 2023: 14.00-15.15
UN Building Headquarters, Room B
New York

The event Women 4OUR WATER – from Portuguese speaking countries to the world, to be held as a side event under the United Nations Water Conference, aims to disseminate and highlight the role of Portuguese-speaking women in their relationship with water and in the daily action and commitment they put into its preservation, protection, access, management and efficient use and regeneration, actively contributing to each of the interactive dialogues:

Water and Health: Access to Safe Water and Sanitation, including the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (SDG 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and SDG 1, 3, 4, 5, 17)
Water for Sustainable Development: Valuing Water, Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Sustainable Economic and Urban Development (SDG 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 and SDG 2, 8, 9, 11, 12)
Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment: Source to Sea, Biodiversity, Climate, Resilience and DRR (SDG 6.5, 6.6, 7, 11.5, 13, 14, 15);
Water for Cooperation: Cross-Border and International Cooperation for Water, Intersectoral Cooperation, including Scientific Cooperation and Water Across the 2030 Agenda (SDG 6.5, 6.b and SDG 16, 17);
Decade of Action for Water: Accelerating the implementation of the Decade’s goals, including through the UN Secretary-General’s Action Plan.

In this event, special emphasis will be given to the dissemination of initiatives promoted by women from the community of Portuguese-speaking countries, which demonstrate their role as “agents of change” and “influencers” in different areas: scientific, activism, entrepreneurship, in the context of Water and Sanitation. There will also be a special focus on the participation and active involvement of young people, particularly girls, through the dissemination of training and empowerment actions, contributing to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 and accelerating the implementation of the Decade of Action for Water.

This event contributes to the access to knowledge and exchange of good practices, to the creation of networks, to the promotion of partnerships, to the catalysis of concrete actions developed by women and for women, to the strengthening of communication in the implementation of the SDGs related to water and to the increase of women’s participation in decision-making, governance and development of water solutions, contributing to increase the efficiency and sustainability of water management processes and to the empowerment and capacity building of women.

The event also intends to contribute for the presentation of unavoidable approaches in the Water-Climate and Water-Energy Nexus, through its insertion in the Women for Climate Movement and the approach and discussion of the efficiency of water use and its inseparable connection to the energy issue.

Women 4OUR WATER does not end at the moment of the event, giving rise to the signature of the Women for Climate Manifesto and the development of the Action line -W4W – Water 4 Women which aims to aggregate good practices and create a network of women with intervention in the Water field, either from Portuguese speaking countries or from Portuguese speaking women in the diaspora.

This network will contribute to address practical perspectives on Gender Issues in the Water Sector and leverage linkages between SDG6 – Drinking Water and Sanitation and other Goals for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in particular SDG 5 Gender Equality, SDG 13 Climate Action and SDG 17 – Partnerships for Goal Implementation.

PROGRAM

14.00 – OPENING SESSION

Secretary of State of Environment of Portugal – Hugo Pires
President of Portuguese Energy Agency (ADENE) and European Energy Network (EnR)– Nelson Lage

14.10 – FRAMEWORK: WOMEN-WATER AND CLIMATE

Women 4OUR CLIMATE Movement– W4W Declaration, Susana Viseu –BasN President

Exhibition of the film “Women 4OUR CLIMATE from Portuguese speaking countries to the world.”
Youth Initiative Presentation – Water Pact (video)

14.20 – ROUND TABLE – CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN to ACESS, CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENT USE OF WATER

Moderation – President of Lisbon International Centre for Water (LIS-Water), Jaime Melo Baptista

From access to clean water to economic empowerment
Dirce Varela, Executive Director from NGOs Platform of Cape Verde – (Video)

Water Efficiency and Water-Energy Nexus in practice: AQUA+ Rating System and skilling program
Filipa Newton – Head of Sustainable Innovation at ADENE and Chair of Water Energy Nexus Task Force at EnR,

Women and Water Conservation
Telma Taurepamg, Indigenous Representative, UMIAB (Union of Indigenous Women of the Brazilian Amazon) (*)

Women and the water sector workforce
Daniela Bemfica, International Water Association

Artivism – Engagement of Women in Water and Health
Laura Korculanin, Give a Sheet (Video)

Fisher Women lead access to and managing Water and Sanitation
Elizeth Faustino, President of Association of Maritime Women Angola (Ammpaca-Wima)
Water and Climate: relationship between sanitation and climate adaptation
Marussia Whately, Water and Sanitation Institute of Brazil

15.10 – CLOSING SESSION