Member Profile: Global Women's Water Initiative

Global Women's Water Initiative is a movement to raise the voices of women in the water arena by providing trainings for grassroots women and groups to implement sustainable water related-strategies so they can improve their communities health, self-reliance, and resilience to climate change. The year-long GWWI Training program is holistic, in that it will not only share effective and proven technologies, but valuable organizational skills to help women develop WASH educational programs, perform needs assessments, build technologies, potentially start micro-business and create strategic partnerships to ensure environmental, financial and social sustainability. Each team of women will leave the training with the skills and support to successfully launch her own water service project from start to finish.

GWWI has hosted 3 training programs host to women from Sub-Saharan Africa (2008), West Africa (2010) and East Africa (2011). This incubator for micro-enterprise development and water technology training marked Phase I of our Women and Water Program. We were able to convene women leaders from eight African nations to learn how to build low-cost, sustainable water technologies, and receive Seed Grants to launch their own clean water microenterprises.
Since the trainings, not a moment has been wasted. GWWI women participants have returned to their communities invigorated. Each team has begun to implement their water project; they are building solar cookers, erecting water storage tanks, constructing water filters, and training others to do the same. The second phase of the project launching in 2012 will identify some of the strong teams and invite them to participate in a women-led WASH Service Center Training where women will deepen their knowledge in WASH, learn how to build more technologies and start to professionalize their services offering full WASH services to the community's diverse needs.

GWWI was founded as a partnership by A Single Drop, Crabgrass and Women’s Earth Alliance. GWWI has since become an independent initiative to address the growing challenges women and girls face due to lack of water and sanitation. GWWI has partnered with local host organizations in Kenya (Green Belt Movement with Wangari Maathai), ProNet Accra in Ghana and iCON Women's and Young People's Leadership Academy in Uganda.