Online training ‘Gender and Social Inclusion in Transboundary Waters’ delivered under the CAWEP Central Asia Knowledge Network on March 2-3, 2022

The CAWEP Central Asia Knowledge Network (CA KN) organized and delivered a two-part online training course on Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) in Transboundary Waters on March 2 and 3, 2022, as part of its efforts to raise awareness, promote and mainstream gender aspects for efficient water resource management in the Central Asian region. The course targeted key regional partner institutions, international partners and water, energy and climate sector professionals. It was aimed to get the audience acquainted with principles and tools of socially inclusive engendered approach that could be applied in transboundary project management and technical assistance programs. 

The trainer – Ms. Ellen Hagerman, internationally recognized Gender and Social Inclusion expert – focused on general gender concepts and on key considerations related to the GESI approach and its connection to effective and inclusive transboundary water management at both the institutional and project level, as well as on how to apply GESI principles throughout the project cycle and within specific water and transboundary water contexts.

The training event brought together over 20 participants from all five Central Asian countries, solid representation form CAREC, the WB partner regional organization, donor agencies and international organizations (EU, USAID, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNODC). In their feedback participants highly evaluated the training content, noted its relevance for the CA region and also shared their views and suggestions on the training program development for broader audiences across Central Asian countries, such as: ‘the training could be divided into several blocks – lectures, interaction sessions, practical exercises with a demonstration of how theory could be put into practice (real projects considering needs of vulnerable groups), group work on practical implications’. Participants believe that in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan the course could be used as a Training of trainers (ToT) for teachers ‘to support the ongoing educational reforms of introducing STEM (schools and VET) with a specific focus on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), promotion access to the safe, healthy adequate school environment’.