Simavi and Women Win launch the Water Justice Fund: women and girls at the forefront of climate action
Today, Simavi and Women Win officially launched the Water Justice Fund at the UN Water Conference in New York. The Water Justice Fund is a first-of-its-kind pooled fund shifting power to the women and girls most affected by the water and climate crisis.
Simavi-director Dieneke van der Wijk: ‘Women and girls in Africa and Asia are disproportionately responsible for securing water for their households. This leaves them particularly vulnerable when water becomes scarce or insecure. Flooding, multi-year droughts, saltwater intrusion and long-term changes to groundwater seriously threaten the availability of household water supply, and erode gains made to advance the human rights to water and sanitation globally.’
Existential water crisis
Climate change is expected to widen existing inequities in water access. Women Win-director Maria Bobenrieth: ‘There is no climate justice for women and girls who are facing an existential water crisis without the funds to take action. And there is no climate justice for women without the recognition of the systems of oppression and power inequality that hold them back. Yet, this is exactly what millions of women and girls worldwide are facing.’
Women and girls at the forefront of climate action
The Water Justice Fund (WJF) will position women and girls at the forefront of climate action. The WJF uses innovative shared governance and participatory grantmaking mechanisms to shift power and decision-making to the women and girls who are living in remote, underserved, and oppressive environments, and are most likely to experience water vulnerability.
Locally-led solutions
The WJF provides grants to women’s groups contributing to water justice and gender justice. The WJF also supports movements, including feminist and climate activists advocating for water justice. Combined with a participatory approach, these strategies enable more locally-led solutions in a rapidly changing world.
Learn more about the Water Justice Fund.
Do you want more information or become a partner? Contact Veerle Ver Loren van Themaat, Director Partnership Development Simavi
