Local perspectives and case studies

The aim of the local perspectives and case studies feature is to learn about gaps in water resource management from affected individuals, communities, civil society, professionals, researchers or organisations in the field to identify needs or potential solutions that space technologies could contribute to.

Because of the very diverse nature of water-related problems, the Office has decided to collect information in different thematic calls, which address a specific target groups at a time. The ultimate purpose is to collect and synthesize these needs (in the form of perspectives expressed by civil society, or case studies) and to explore ways of matchmaking needs and solutions to inspire stakeholders of the Space4Water Portal to apply existing or develop new solutions to the problems addressed.

Local Perspectives address a specific water resource management or ecological issue in a certain locality. Local perspectives will be collected, screened, and categorised by UNOOSA. Depending on the target audience of the call, some of the collected perspectives (detailed and clear descriptions / case studies with technical parameters to be provided) will be publicly shared on the Space4Water Portal so that solution providers can learn about user needs, others will be collected and published in a curated format, maybe with more user interaction possibilities than a traditional case study.

Theme of the current call

#water2me #women #water

The theme of the current and first call within the local perspectives feature is Women and their everyday life related to water.

“Women and girls are responsible for water collection in 8 out of 10 households with water off premises, so reducing the population with limited drinking water services will have a strong gender impact” (WHO and UNICEF, 2017).

“Reducing the time it takes to fetch water from 30 to 15 minutes increased girls’ school attendance by 12% according to a study in Tanzania” (UNICEF).

“About 44 million pregnant women have sanitation-related hookworm infections that pose a considerable health burden in developing societies” (UNICEF).

These statistics speak for themselves, no need to mention that water relates to gender equality and health. By achieving water security, benefits will be seen in SDG 3 – Gender equality, because women and children bear the responsibilities of water collection in many areas of the world. It has to be an aim of the global community to reduce the 200 million hours women spend annually to collect water. Efforts to this end will benefit health of populations, access to education for girls, and in the long run, poverty reduction. Sustainable water resource management furthermore is a way to prevent future conflict over that precious and scarce resource.

Research shows that many-water related problems can be addressed by space-based data and initiatives to combat water issues supported by space technologies. UNOOSA has thus decided to give a voice to women and dedicates the first call within the new Local Perspectives and Case Studies feature to Women’s everyday life related to water.

Dear ladies, mothers, daughters and sisters, you are invited to participate. We would like to learn from you to be able to design and better identify technical solutions addressing your needs. If you are interested in particpiating, you would ideally fill this form, or return the below attached document to office[at]space4water.org (Note: the [at] in the email address is to be replaced with an @).

This is an ongoing call. No Deadline for submissions.