Access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental right, yet women’s role in managing these services is often overlooked. In Mardan, Pakistan, women are becoming active change agents, moving from traditional roles in the water and sanitation sector and influencing decisions through engagement, capacity building, and entrepreneurship.

In line with UN-Habitat's mission, GWOPA prioritizes gender mainstreaming and inclusive urban basic services within water utilities and WOPs. By collaborating with members and partners, we actively advocate for these strategies, aiming to inspire collective change towards a gender-equal world. GWOPA has undertaken initiatives in the following areas to promote gender equality with utilities and sanitation providers through implementing WOPs.

“Low-income Services Unit is not a very exciting operational focus area for most utilities because they have to put in more to deliver services. Yet what is got from there to sustain services is minimal. With support from the EU-WOP programme, […renewed focus on and services delivery in low-income communities] has been enhanced through capacity enhancement and structuring of the initiatives," Zainab Mpakiraba (Manager External Services at National Water & Sewerage Corporation, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC-Uganda))

“Women are entrepreneurs, yet have limited access to capital and markets,” exemplified Kamala Harris while delivering a speech in Ghana.

Procurement in the water sector is the delivery mechanism for Safe Water for All

African women are the future and the present of Africa. Advancing the economic empowerment of their businesses in the water sector is both smart economics and a lever to achieving gender equality.