Gender disaggregated data review in water and sanitation management with a focus on Africa

For a sociologist qualitative information on power relations at the micro level are leading to understanding of causes of access to water and sanitation facilities or the lack of it. Details of empowerment of diversity of people are different depending on the contexts. Politicians and decision makers in the water and sanitation sectors are too busy to learn about all these details and apply them in their work. For them more generalised information is needed, preferably to be grasped in a couple of numbers on a few indicators. At the lower level the information gathered is rather precise and all numbers can be checked. When accumulating such numbers from different places, they become less exact, but because of the scale more useful for politicians and others. The higher the level, with as peak the global level, the more chance that the collected information is not quite as accurate anymore, whilst the different steps of accumulation are harder to check. The larger the scale of data, the fewer is the number of indicators that can be given information about. Nevertheless, these few global numbers are vital for the importance that worldwide is been given to the sector and the decisions made. With water getting scarcer and sanitation still considered a luxury for many people in this world, it is important that data are as correct as possible and made available for decision makers. Both water and sanitation are of different vitality for women than for men, each having their own responsibilities. It is therefore crucial that the information is disaggregated by gender. When training water professionals or water users, for example, the number of women and the number of men, as well as their different interests and forms of participation should be reported on. In this report which is based on available literature and the opinion of professionals working in the sector, such as colleagues from UN-Habitat, GWA develops a methodology to gather, process and use gender-disaggregated data, lists indicators with different priorities, and writes a Policy Brief, for politicians and decision-makers in the water and sanitation sectors. We hope that this new material will lead to more gender information and more applicable decisions leading to empowerment of poor and vulnerable women and men, as well as to more efficient, effective and sustainable water management.