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They also have significant levels of social-economic differences and inequalities, which are reflected in water security and access to safe sanitation services. The region’s vulnerability to climate change further aggravates these inequalities.

In view of social norms and barriers, men and women are affected differently by climate change and related extremes. Gender-transformative national and regional strategies are of utmost importance for enhancing climate change resilience and informing mitigation strategies. However, to be effective, these must be adequately informed by reliable disaggregated data on water-related topics, which however are often scarce or outdated. In other cases in the region, some water and gender data are collected but still not well reflected in policy and programming.

To address these issues, the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) are implementing the project “Developing capacity for gender-transformative water policies and plans under climate uncertainties and risks” targeting 10 countries of South America. The project started in April 2023 and will end in June 2024. It avails of the support of the UNESCO Regional Office in Montevideo and collaboration with other relevant regional and national stakeholders.

Central to this project stands the dissemination of methodologies for the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated water data, through the application of the UNESCO-WWAP ‘Water and Gender Data Toolkit’ (published in 2009) and its unique gender-responsive indicators. Participants -notably mid- to senior-level government officials and project managers from relevant Ministries and utilities- will apply these tools to develop case studies, which will be collected in a dedicated publication.

This collaboration has included a technical webinar in November 2023, and will proceed with a face-to-face 4-day training activity in Montevideo from 29 January to 1 February 2024. The results of these activities will help inform national to regional water policy, thereby promoting gender equality and climate change resilience.