FG intervention strategies in water sector should be gender responsive - RDI
As the global community marks the 2026 World Water Day on Sunday, 22 March 2026, the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) has urged the Federal and state governments to adopt gender-conscious
As the global community marks the 2026 World Water Day on Sunday, 22 March 2026, the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) has urged the Federal and state governments to adopt gender-conscious approaches when formulating policies to address the nation's water crisis.
RDI recommendation specifically speaks to this year's theme, 'Water and Gender,' which has as a campaign slogan 'Where water flows, equality grows.'
The global commemorations led by the UN Women and UNICEF focuses on the critical link between water access and gender equality, highlighting that water inequality disproportionately affects women and girls.
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In a statement issued in Lagos, RDI said that the 2026 commemorations speak directly to the challenges of women and the girl child in Nigeria and most countries of the Global South, especially the physical and mental exhaustion they experience in sourcing water.
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RDI Project Officer, Tracy Ohovwore, said: "The situation in most communities across Nigeria readily comes to mind. The daily drudgery that women and the girl child contend with due to the dry taps in their communities is real. Disturbingly, the situation we describe is not only in the rural communities; In cities like Lagos and Abuja, it is the same. That is why the theme of this year's commemoration is a wake-up call to the government at all levels to be gender conscious in addressing the avoidable water challenges in the country."
Ohovwore noted that women and the girl child are disproportionately affected when access to water is a challenge because they are the ones who go the distance, often facing risks in search of water. In many cases, the girl child ends up not going to school to satisfy the home.
"Yet there's another often-overlooked situation: When there's no water, the physical hygiene of women also takes a hit, exposing them to disease and illness. So, the current systems are a lose-lose for women".
