WWAP released the Technical Paper on ‘Sex-disaggregated indicators for water assessment, monitoring and reporting’ during the 38th session of the General Conference at the UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, on Monday 9th of November.

"This technical paper provides a first global effort to promote the systematic collection of sex-disaggregated water data and allow comparability of results, which will serve as first overview on the current status of gender equality in its several dimensions", stated Prof. Stefan Uhlenbrook, WWAP Coordinator, who chaired the event with a panel of international experts and UNESCO member country representatives.
Gülser Corat, Director of the Division for Gender Equality at UNESCO reiterated that Gender equality is a UNESCO global priority, "in the past UNESCO stated that attaining the Millennium Development Goals was not possible without addressing the current gender inequalities; despite the widespread acknowledgement of the problem, a gap remains in this field. Therefore this paper will significantly boost the state of global knowledge on this particular topic."

The event also highlighted the relevance of the Technical Paper to the monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) n.6 “Ensure access to water and sanitation for all.” Engin Koncagul, WWAP Programme Officer highlighted this point in his presentation: "In September, the UN leaders have agreed upon new development goals which must be monitored and followed through a number of indicators. Recommendations were given on including disaggregation by sex, age, and income. In order to “leave no one behind,” gathering disaggregated data is essential. This new report contains a methodology for using the list of gender-sensitive high-priority indicators, using different techniques such as performing intra-household surveys and sex-separated interviews."

Panel-members, Lesha Witmer, independent international expert on water, gender, and sustainable development, and both the Dutch and Italian representatives to UNESCO, H. E. Lionel Strenghart Veer and Arnaldo Minuti, stated their support of WWAP and its goal of introducing the gender perspective to global water monitoring.

Ms. Witmer, in particular, stressed the need to include sex-disaggregation in the current status of Sustainable Development Goals 6 on water.

Read the press release

Watch the event (from min. 41:00)

Find the Technical Paper and the Toolkit here

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