Gender & Water Community

This is my last blog post for at least a while as I am busy finishing my thesis on the Resilience of the Balinese irrigation societies. I have enjoyed composing blog posts for the Gender and Water Community and so I hope have you enjoyed reading them . Below a summary of the past two years of the Blog’s life and the Gender and Water Network.

The Gender and Water Community has grown considerably in the past couple of years and our Blog has been visited more and more often by a variety of readers from various countries. Views of the blog have risen from literally 0 in early 2008 to an average of 140 in 2008 and again risen to an average of 830 in 2009. Our readers have shown interest in all different types of blog posts, be it vacancy or events announcements, news from the GWN community, or news from the Internet.

Our Gender and Water Network membership list consists of  mostly Academics, and NGOs and a few Government Institutions. Membership of the Gender Water Network (GWN) is free and open to all interested people. Most members are students, researchers and professionals in the gender and water fields. Joining the network will help keep you up-to-date with gender & water issues. If you like to join this Network, please visit our website.

From the ANU Water Initiative:

1. National Water Week ANU Seminar Day – Call for presentation

Wednesday 21 October 2009, 9am – 5pm

In response to the National Water Week [see http://www.nationalwaterweek.org.au/ ] on 18-24 October 2009, the College of Physical Sciences and Research School of Earth Sciences presents the ‘National Water Week ANU Seminar Day’. The theme of the seminar is “Securing Our Water Future”, and we now invite ANU’s water talents (PhD, Honours and postgraduate students) and ANU researchers from all fields to give a short presentation about their latest research on water-related topics. We welcome presentations from diverse areas, e.g. arts, economics, law, policy, science, culture, psychology and social sciences. This will be an excellent showcase of ANU’s strong contribution to worldwide water issues, and an opportunity to celebrate achievements, make new contacts within ANU and externally, and plan for the future.

This is also a chance for your research student to present their research proposal, project or paper to a wider audience (ANU community and the public). A prize will be awarded to the best presenter.

National Water Week ANU Seminar Day

Overall theme: Securing Our Water Future

Date & Time: Wednesday 21 October 2009, 9am – 5pm

Venue: Jaeger Room, RSES Building 61, ANU

Time limit: 15 minute presentation, with powerpoint or poster

Registration: email name, affiliation (research school or college), contact information, title of presentation, short summary/abstract to jenna.roberts@anu.edu.au

Closing date: registration and submission for presentation due on Friday 9 October 2009.

More information and enquiries: Jenna Roberts, email: jenna.roberts@anu.edu.au

Website: http://www.water.anu.edu.au/events/NWW_2009.php

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2. Water Diary 09 – Call for volunteers

This year, the Water Diary will again be run during National Water Week, Oct 18 – 24.  The diaries are delivered to the households, with a stamped, addressed envelope to facilitate its return when complete. They now call for volunteers to participate in the water diary 09. The research will be valuable to understand the household water use in Canberra.

For more information and register as volunteer, contact Kate Harriden, email, waterdiary@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.water.anu.edu.au/events.php

Water Diary 2008 Report: http://www.water.anu.edu.au/pdf/2009/final_report_waterdiary.pdf

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3. BOM National Water Information Seminar – Canberra

The Bureau of Meteorology is hosting the National Water Information Seminar across all capital cities between September and November 2009. The seminars will feature presentations by senior Bureau and State representatives highlighting progress toward achieving the Bureau’s water information mission to ensure Australia is better equipped to manage water scarcity, water quality and flood risk through ready access to high quality water information at the national level. During the seminar we will also describe the water information products the Bureau plans to delivery over the next 6-18 months.

The Canberra seminar is held on Thursday, 15 October 2009 between 9.00am and 3:15pm in the civic centre. Participation is free and you will need to register before Thursday, 8 October 2009.  We hope you and your colleagues can attend the seminar. For more information please send an email to waterinfo@bom.gov.au

Seminar flyer: http://www.water.anu.edu.au/pdf/2009/BOM_waterinfoseminar.pdf

Website: http://www.bom.gov.au/water/announcements/upcoming_seminars.shtml ;

http://www.water.anu.edu.au/events.php

Women and Girls – Making the Connection (Literally) to Water and Sanitation

From PRNewswire:

Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Member Water Advocates is building its ongoing advocacy efforts to improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation for women and girls. As a water advocacy organization, one of the main themes emphasized by the group is the impact that the lack of safe water and sanitation has on women and girls and how investing in water and sanitation programs is, in fact, an investment in women and girls.

“Water Advocates applauds President Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative for addressing this vital issue through the Water and Sanitation Action Networking Session which attracted over 40 participants from the foundation and nonprofit communities. We are confident this will help catalyze more CGI commitments to provide safe drinking water and toilets to millions of girls and women,” said John Oldfield, Water Advocates’ Executive Vice President.

With all of the critical issues that advocates for women and girls have to consider, the most basic requirements for life and livelihoods — water, sanitation and hygiene promotion — are sometimes forgotten. Women and girls are marginalized, in part, because they are forced to spend their time fetching water or caring for family members who are sick from water- and sanitation-related diseases. On average in rural Africa, women spend 26% of their time collecting water, which often means walking five miles or more to the nearest water source.

Read on.

Water Advocates is the first US-based nonprofit organization dedicated solely to increasing American support for worldwide access to safe, affordable and sustainable supplies of drinking water and adequate sanitation. See their website for more details.

Building on President Clinton’s lifetime in public service, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) reflects his belief that governments need collaboration from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and other global leaders to effectively confront the world’s most pressing problems. Visit Clinton Global Initiative Website.

Climate Change is Top News in all the news – maybe time to reconsider your way of living and become part of the solution! See here:

Alternet: Countries Are Preparing for Rising Seas But the U.S. Is Far Behind: By 2100, a projected sea level rise of up to seven feet will have tremendous impact around the world.

Alternet: Here’s How to Stop Using Toilet Paper and Save Water, Trees and Energy – Making a roll of toilet paper uses 1.5 pounds of wood, 37 gallons of water and 1.3 KWh of electricity. I really recommend reading this article and reconsider your use of toilet paper, if you do use it…

Reuters Alertnet: Philippines’ floods put fresh impetus to climate change talks – NGOs – As climate negotiators prepared to sit down in Bangkok to one of the last major negotiating rounds before Copenhagen, they got a brutal reminder of why the talks matter: Typhoon Ketsana tore into the Philippines, submerging part of Manila and bringing a 40-year record in rainfall.

Reuters Alertnet: No climate justice without gender justice – “The result of women’s vulnerability becomes all too visible when climate disasters occur. More women are injured or killed during hurricanes, floods and cyclones. They are less likely to hear official warnings and to be able to swim or to escape quickly, especially if carrying young children…”

ODI Blog: A long way to go on climate change: seven issues to consider from the World Development Report 2010 – and more on climate change on the ODI website.

Breaking News: Climate change must enlarge, not constrict possibilities for development and empowerment: Ansari – Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Thursday said any action on climate change must enlarge, not constrict, the possibilities for development and empowerment of the world’s poor. Addressing the inaugural session of the Observer Research Foundation’s “Global Summit on Sustainable Development and Climate Change” held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, Ansari said that the human aspiration for leading a life of dignity must not be the outcome of the dice of geography…

• Vacancies announced through the CGIAR’s Gender and Diversity Program:

ICARDA, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, is looking for a Hydrologist and various other positions.

• NRMjobs, an Australian based Online database for jobs in Natural Resource Management has updated their website. You can search now for country, region and type of work you are looking for.
• From the ANU Water Initiative comes the following advertisement:

Rural Community Adaptation to Climate Change Mapping Project – Asia

The Arkleton Trust in cooperation with the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP) offer one final Arkleton Trust Fellowship for 2009. Following the successful appointment of four fellowships to map community initiatives in adaptation to climate change across Europe and the north, Australasia, Africa and the Americas we are now seeking applications for coverage of the Asian countries.  The fellowship is for one year and is worth £5,000.  It is open to researchers from organisations working in this field or PhD researchers with faculty support.  Preference will be given to researchers who live and work in an Asian country. Information of the project and application forms can be provided by contacting Nicola@arkletontrust.co.uk. The closing date for applications is October 30, 2009.

• From Dev-Zone.org:

Water and Sanitation Programme Manager: He/She is responsible for the overall management of the WATSAN programme, including all aspects of the engineering and environmental health activities, assessments, monitoring, supervision and reporting. More information about this Contract…

The online journal Water Alternatives has published a new issue, following a list of content:

WaA Volume 2 – Issue 3 , October 2009

Articles

Is water lagging behind on aid effectiveness? Lessons from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Uganda
Katharina Welle, Josephine Tucker, Alan Nicol, Barbara Evans
Water Alternatives 2(3): 297-314               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

Institutions that cannot manage change: A Gandhian perspective on the Cauvery dispute in South India
Narendar Pani
Water Alternatives 2(3): 315-327               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

Themed Section: Hydraulic Bureaucracies: Flows of Water, Flows of Power

Hydraulic bureaucracies: Flows of water, flows of power
François Molle, Peter P. Mollinga, Philippus Wester
Water Alternatives 2(3): 328-349               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

The end of abundance: How water bureaucrats created and destroyed the southern California oasis
David Zetland
Water Alternatives 2(3): 350-369               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

“Agua para todos”: The new ´regionalist´ hydraulic paradigm in Spain
Elena Lopez-Gunn
Water Alternatives 2(3): 416-439               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

The hydraulic mission and the Mexican hydrocracy: Regulating and reforming the flows of water and power
Philippus Wester, Edwin Rap, Sergio Vargas-Velázquez
Water Alternatives 2(3): 395-415               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

Hydraulic bureaucracy in a modern hydraulic society – Strategic group formation in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Hans-Dieter Evers and Simon Benedikter
Water Alternatives 2(3): 416-439               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

The fluctuating political appeal of water engineering in Australia
Lin R. Crase, Suzanne M. O’Keefe, Brian E. Dollery
Water Alternatives 2(3): 440-447               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

Beyond bureaucracy? Assessing institutional change in the governance of water in England
Nigel Watson, Hugh Deeming and Raphael Treffny
Water Alternatives 2(3): 448-460               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

The Water Resources Board: England and Wales’ venture into national water resource planning 1964-73
Christine McCulloch
Water Alternatives 2(3): 461-475               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

Viewpoint

The right irrigation? Policy directions for agricultural water management in sub-Saharan Africa
Bruce Lankford

Water Alternatives 2(3): 476-480               Abstract | Full Text – PDF

Book Reviews

Global corruption report 2008: Corruption in the water sector (Zinnbauer, D. and Dobson, R. 2008).
Undala Alam
Water Alternatives 2(3): 481-482               Full Text – PDF

Call for papers for special issue of SAWAS (South Asian Water Studies)

Changing water governance in India: taking the longer view

Guest editors: P.P. Mollinga (ZEF, Bonn) and S.P. Tucker (Govt. of Andhra Pradesh)

Background:

The European Commission funded research project called STRIVER has over the past three years (July 2006 – June 2009) looked at issues of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and water governance in the Tungabhadra sub-basin of the Krishna basin. On June 30, 2009, a seminar-workshop was held in Hyderabad discussing some of the findings of that research and other South Indian experience. Instead of focusing on the immediately pressing issues of today, the seminar-workshop deliberated on the longer-term scenario and trends in water governance in the present context of a fast-growing economy and globalisation. The following papers were presented.

1. IWRM in the upper-Tungabhadra basin: tanks and watershed management (Suhas Paranjape, Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management, SOPPECOM, Pune)
2. IWRM in the lower Tungabhadra basin: canal irrigation and rainfed agriculture (Peter Molli nga and Rahul Pillai, Center for Development Research, ZEF, Bonn, and R. Doraiswamy, Jalaspandana, Bangalore)
3. The appropriateness of the Water Disputes Tribunal framework: the case of Cauvery (Narendar Pani, National Institute of Advanced Studies, NIAS, Bangalore)
4. Regulatory authorities for water resources: the case of Maharashtra (Subodh Wagle, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, TISS, Mumbai and Sachin Warghade, Prayas, Pune)
5. Water sector reform in South India: the case of Andhra Pradesh (Sanjay Gupta, Irrigation & Command Area Development, I&CAD, Andhra Pradesh)

Following the discussion at the workshop-seminar a broader call for papers is released, inviting papers taking a longer view on water governance and managem ent (reform) in India. The generic nature of the questions addressed will also make this discussion relevant for water resources governance in other South Asian countries.

Call for papers:

The aim of the call for papers is to compose a special issue or special section on longer-term perspectives on water governance and management (reform) in India. We are aiming for 8-10 papers, but as SAWAS is an e-journal, more papers can be included. The papers should not exceed 5000 words (including references and footnotes). We are inviting original, well argued and accessibly written analyses of water sector reform experiences, assessments of future developments, discussion of dilemmas and contradictions, accounts of policy processes and policy instruments, etc.

Submission of papers:

Papers are to be submitted to Dr Daphne Gondhalekhar at ZEF, Bonn (daphneg@mit.edu) not later than September 30, 2009. The target is papers of maximum 5000 words. Papers will be peer reviewed. Accepted (and eventually revised) papers will be published in a forthcoming issue of SAWAS (South Asian Water Studies).
For more information on the broad thematic aimed at, please download the Information Flyer .

Applications are now open for the 2009 Asia Pacific Human Development Fellowships.

There are two types of Fellowships: Media or Academic, both of which are directly or indirectly intended to support building of HD capacity among nationals from programme countries. Read the brochure with information on the fellowships.

This year the theme for the Media Fellowship is ‘Gender’, linked to the forthcoming APHDR, which will contribute to dissemination.

The theme for the Academic Fellowship is ‘Climate Change’ to encourage researchers to focus on the theme selected for the APHDR to follow Gender.

The theme for the APHDR following the one on gender has been revisited in light of global happenings. The decision is to do the next APHDR on climate change, which has the potential to thwart the achievements of the MDG and human development and increase inequality. The issues underlying social exclusion will continue to receive much attention through, for example, publications such as the global HDR on migration, the regional HDR on gender, and ongoing analysis of the social impact of the financial crisis.

Applications deadline is 1 September 2009.

Applications and queries should be sent to hdfellowships.rcc@undp.org.  We look forward to applications from Ph.D. students and media professionals!

Social Scientist – CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Darwin

• Are you an experienced social scientist looking for your next challenge?
• Do you have a PhD, research experience and a passion for Australian Indigenous resource management institutions and ecological knowledge systems?
• Would you like to be involved in research contributing to Australia’s water management challenges?

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems seeks a social scientist with extensive experience working with Indigenous communities to both implement the social science objectives of a project titled Indigenous water management in northern Australia and to develop long term research opportunities for CSE in the area of sustainable Indigenous livelihoods in land and water management. Applicants should have a strong commitment to applied multi-disciplinary research with Indigenous communities and be willing to travel for extended periods to remote north Australian regions.

The position is a permanent one. Expected start date: mid to late January 2010. Applications close August 26, 2009.

Advertisement and job description are available here.   Sue Jackson is the contact for any enquiries.

GWA has a new training manual produced: Mainstreaming gender into Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes: a training manual for water professionals.

It aims to provide participatory gender-sensitive training to water professionals at the policy, project and administrative levels through building their capacity for mainstreaming gender into WASH programmes.

The authors hope this manual will be useful to other public, private and civil society training institutions and agencies, both in Rwanda (where this manual was written) and in other countries around the world.

Read a summary on Eldis or download the entire document.

2009 World Water Week is on in Stockholm - taking stock on water related issues as a recent UNICEF press release reports: With almost one billion people lacking access to safe water, the annual World Water Week (16-22 August) serves as a forum for global leaders and experts to share innovative solutions on water-related issues and its impact on poverty, health, education, gender equality and the environment. Hosted and organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute, this weeklong event aims to build capacity, promote partnerships, and review progress achieved. The theme of World Water Week 2009 is: “Responding to Global Changes: Accessing Water for the Common Good – With a Special Focus on Transboundary Waters.

More on Toilets – Lack of public toilets in Kathmandu, Nepal is a challenge for commuters, especially for women. Read on WASH News Asia&Pacific.

Water in Latin America and Gender issues: Read this article on a Mexian website about a recent COHA report that discusses gender inequality in the community in terms of access to water:

A close examination of life in Nicaragua, for instance, exposes the deep-rooted social norms that govern the lives of women and other disadvantaged members of society, impeding not only their acquisition and use of clean water in the absence of male family members, but also their power in their community….

Read on.

The WIP weekly talks to the editors Olga Gershenson and Barbara Penner of the first multi-disciplinary book about potty politics to be published, Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender,

Looking into the Toilet: Potty Politics

The book explores the ways in which one of our most private public spaces is laden with cultural, social, and ideological meaning.

Here are a few extracts:

I was teaching a course on gender, and bumped into a totally unexpected subject: toilet accessibility for folks who are transgender, gender-variant, or just plainly don’t look their sex.

This is a first-of-its-kind exploration of the topic, and it’s a collected volume, so by definition it had to look at the gendered bathroom from multiple perspectives.

I remember my astonishment when I began to research female public toilet provision in Victorian London…Debates over toilet provision for women kept occurring because they were inseparable from Victorian attitudes towards women. Nineteenth century women were not full citizens in the public sphere…

The biggest change in America has been the so-called “potty parity” legislation passed in various states in the 1980s and 1990s, which mandates that for every male toilet, one female toilet must be provided. But this equality on paper does not provide true equality of provision because women take much longer to use toilets and are not provided with urinals.

Read on on the WIP.

Kate Harriden from the ANU has produced this report, funded by the Gender and Water Alliance as a result of her research in Canberra, Australia. It gives an excellent method – a new approach – to assess water use by genders at the micro-level.

Looking forward to your comments. Harriden2009_GWAFinalReport-WaterDiary

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is seeking applications for the position of a Water Quality Associate.

Their Water Quality team is engaged in a number of initiatives and projects designed to improve and protect surface waters and aquatic ecosystems in the United States and around the world with a major emphasis on controlling nutrient pollution and restoring eutrophic water bodies.

The associate is expected to produce original, high quality research and analysis on relevant surface water quality issues, market- and performance- based frameworks for addressing water quality and eutrophication. She/he will be expected to assist in project management, give presentations and build and maintain relationships with (prospective) donors

For more details on this job, see contact details below or visit their website.

World Resources Institute

Attention: Sara Walker (re: WQT Associate)

10 G. Street, N.E., Suite 800

Washington, DC 20002

Fax:  (202) 729-7798

Email:  swalker@wri.org

Announcments of Vacancies through the Gender and Diversity program:

• The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) is looking for a Climate Change Scientist, see for more details on their website.

• The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is seeking to recruit a Vice President and a Chief Development Strategist. See for more details and other jobs on their site.

Jobs advertised through the Dev-Zone Newsletter:

• Oxfam GB is looking for a Regional Policy Officer and a Public Health Coordinator. For more details see on their site.

• A Gender Advisor is beeing sought by CHF International in Afghanistan.

Impact on Jamaican Women upon Jamaica’s government rejoining with IMF: Read Glenda Simms comments about this issue on the Jamaica gleaner who is calling for a stronger involvment of women in the determining the conditions of that relationship between the fund and the Jamaican government, gender equality and women empowerment.

Additions to the Gender Development Index (GDI): The Institute of Women Studies at the Lucknow University has added a “quality of life” element to the GDI in order to include psychological aspects that impact on the physical suffering of women. The director of the IWS, Professor Chandra states that women actually need to be psychologically empowered for them to solve gender inequality problems. Read on on Times of India.

Call from the International Rivers Organisation on China and the construction of dams worldwide: They alert to the fact that nowadays most dams are built by Chinese companies. But the big question is, are environmental and social risks being properly addressed? View their slideshow and comment!

UNIFEM’s latest media release: Governments need to Ensure Women do not bear the brunt of the Economic Crisis. A panel including United Nations, Australia, Nicaragua and Finland organisations has come together to discuss the impact on women and to put out recommendations on how goverments should deal with the Economic Crisis in terms of Gender issues. “There cannot be economic recovery or sustainable development without the full empowerment and integration of women in all levels of economic, social and cultural activities,” … Read on.

This blog People and Development run by people from the Development Studies Program at the ANU (Australian National University) focuses on development happenings around the world, with a particular focus on local communities and the people affected by development actors and actions.

Contributors are amongst other Patrick Kilby and Francesca Merlan. They also have some Gender Resources that are worthwhile checking out.

And on of the latest blog entries comments two recent UNIFEM reports: Gender Accountability is important…

Women lay hand on water pumps in India: Jamsol village, 60 km from the Steel City of Jamshedpur in Meniyar panchayat of Musabani block, has opened a new chapter in women’s liberation. With around 150 families, the village currently boasts of around 25 tribal damsels who are engaged in [the] hard work of repairing hand pump[s]. Read on on WASH news on Asia and Pacific…

Go Green, go vegetarian/vegan!! The ever lasting argument that meat production uses much more water… see here details and numbers for the US on the Vegifem Blog.  I wouldn’t be that radical but I certainly agree that meat production uses a lot more energy and resources so we should at least consider to go back to the traditional way of eating meat, on a Sunday only or have a meat free Friday!!!

Diarrhea a gendered health problem in Lebanon: Effect of Women’s Perceptions and Household Practices on Children’s Waterborne Illness in a Low Income Community. This study with an ecosystem approach examined the association between women’s household practices and diarrhea among children in a region where contaminated drinking water and intestinal diseases are common. The findings suggest that diarrhea is a gendered health problem. The study concludes that female children, who are generally more involved in household activities than male children, are at higher risk of suffering from diarrhea and that intervention activities would be more effective if based on a better understanding of gender roles and household power relations. See more here.

A related topic worthwhile mentioning: Women’s bodies remains battle ground for ideological struggles all over the world – This blog entry on Alternet discusses a few new books on this very issue…the reduction of a human being to its body alone. I would be interested in your views on this matter!

A new community driven effort brings water back to drought stricken Indian villages reducing women’s workload significantly in terms of fetching the blue oil:  The Watershed Organisation Trust was set up in 1994 to harvest rain water, by a German Jesuit, Hermann Bacher, and is now run by a Harvard-educated couple Crispino Lobo and Marcella D’Souza. Awarded the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize at the World Water Forum in Istanbul this year, the couple’s efforts to carry out rain water harvesting in an inclusive, equitable, sustainable and gender-sensitive manner have been saluted internationally. Read on.

Uganda’s urban poor get access to cheap and clean water thanks to an African Develoment Bank funded project. Until now urban poors have paid up to five times more to get water. Now with the introduction of pre-paid water meters the future looks again more promising… Read on on WASH Africa.

Dear Readers, here is a new and interesting blog from the international feminist community. Gender Across Borders is a site where issues of gender, race, sexuality, and class are discussed and critically examined. People of all backgrounds are welcome to come together to voice and progress positive gender relations worldwide.

Here is a current blog entry:
Thembi Ngubane – AIDS is not going to bring me down

There are currently six editors and various contributing editors, most of which reside in the U.S. They would like to expand their world view by getting different perspectives from people around the world and are inviting people to write for this blog. If you are interested you can get more info on their website under want-to-write.

Voices from the Waters 2009 – 4th International Water Film Festival, Bangalore

Friday 4th September, 2009 to Monday 7th September, 2009

Bangalore Film Society, Arghyam- safe, sustainable water for all, Svaraj-Society for Voluntary Action Revitalization and Justice, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, Ithaca College, USA (FLEFF) Mountainfilm in Telluride, USA, Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Charter of Human Responsibilities and Water Journeys – Campaign for Fundamental Right to Water with the support of Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore are organizing this fourth edition of the biggest international film festival on water.

Established in 2005 to promote among the public an awareness of the myriad water-issues affecting our everyday lives either directly or indirectly and as a platform for alternate voices and views rarely heard in mainstream, Voices from the Waters started as a Bangalore-based Environmental Film Festival and over the 2007 and 2008 editions grew to be one of the largest, most diverse and dynamic platforms of debate, dialogue and celebration of the precious resource, the blue gold, life itself – water.

We invite you to be a part of the festival by contributing short, documentary, animation and feature films (DVD format only) with English subtitles on water and related issues.

If you have a film in under any of the following categories:

1. Water Scarcity,
2. The Dams and the Displaced,
3. Water Harvest,
4. Water Struggles/conflicts,
5. Floods and Droughts,
6. Global Warming and Climate Change,
7. Impact of Deforestation on Water Bodies,
8. Water, Sanitation and health,
9. River Pollution,
10. The Holistic Revival of Water Bodies,
11. Water and Life

Please find the entry form at www.voicesfromthewaters.com. Submission Deadline: 31st July 2009

For more details and guidelines check out the website.

Campaign for the fundamental right to water,
C/o No.33/1-9, Thyagaraj Layout,
Jai Bharath Nagar,
Maruthisevanagar P.O,
Bangalore-560 033.

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water” – Loran Eisley

UNRISD is now accepting applications for a two to three-month internship position to begin in July 2009 (preferred starting date: 2 July) in the Gender and Development Programme (GAD).

Eligible candidates must be currently enrolled in a master’s or PhD degree programme (as per UN Secretariat rules regarding interns) in economics, sociology, political science or a related field from an accredited university and have academic and professional experience in issues related to gender and social development.

For more details visit their website, click on About UNRISD, then on the Institute and Vacancies or try here.

UNRISD
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland