Actual projects:

1. Sri Lanka
   In Sri Lanka, BPW women and women from NetWwater persuaded the government that sustainability in water management and sanitation is only possible by giving control of the water supplies to a local council with equal gender representation. An elected committee consisting of fifty-fifty representation of men and women is now successfully governing the village water supplies.
   For an impression of a visit to this project in 2003.
2. Surinam
   In December 2003, BPW-the Netherlands joined forces with the "Women and Labor Market Foundation" (VAM) and the National Women's Movement (NVB) in Surinam to upgrade drinking water & sanitation facilities in four villages on the Upper Surinam River. Pollution and water shortages are the main problems. A study conducted by the University of Surinam confirmed that unless a project proposal based on broad and equal participation of civil society groups is in place, no sustainable water and sanitation services could be expected. Women's groups in Surinam took the lead and provided women in the communities with information so as to facilitate their informed participation and decision making in the project.
   In the course of 2004 a project for drinking water was developed for 5 villages in the “Boven Suriname” area, together with the water supply companies of Suriname and Amsterdam.
   In October / November 2005 a delegation visited the area to see the progress and talk with the village communities about instituting water committees, training etc.
   Also a working conference was held in Paramaribo with representatives of national government, donors, NGO’s working on water and sanitation and the villages involved to talk about integrated approaches, coordinate efforts and also talk about the Water Committees.
   Below are photo impressions of the different activities, a newspaper account of the working conference (Dutch).
   Verslag werkconferentie Paramaribo 2/11/2005 (zipped worddoc., 35kb)
   Presentatie VAM in Paramaribo (zipped powerpoint, 890kb)
   Visit interior “Boven Suriname”
   Working conference 2nd November”
   Visting 's Lands Hospitaal in Paramaribo
   and the (draft) results of the discussions about the water committees (Dutch). (Worddoc., 50kb)

Visit the Women for Water database for more projects.