The Women and Sustainable Cities programme (Femmes et Villes Durables in French) aims to strengthen women's leadership in the decision-making and management of scarce urban water resources in the MENA region. Launched in May 2023, the 2.5-year pilot will be implemented in collaboration with local governments and feminist organizations in Figuig (Morocco), Kairouan (Tunisia), and Sebkha (Mauritania).

By enhancing the capacities of local authorities and civil society, the programme promotes gender-responsive design and implementation of urban water management policies and projects. Collaborating with women and local organisations, the programme implements pilot projects in urban areas to improve women's access to water and enhance sustainable water management.

The programme is funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE), under its Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects (FSPI). It has also been designated as a Support Fund for Feminist Organizations project by the Ministry and the Agence Française de Développement, enabling feminist civil society organisations to advance their vision of gender equality.

 

Climate justice and water management require women leadership because representation matters. If you have more women in leading positions, they can take more gender‑sensitive decisions.

Deyala Tarawneh, University of Jordan

Femmes et Villes Durables

The programme, spanning from 2023 to 2025, will be implemented in Figuig (Morocco), Kairouan (Tunisia), and Sebkha (Mauritania), focusing on three key components:

  1. Enhance the governance capacities of local authorities for gender-sensitive and sustainable water management: Engage in a participatory approach to collect data on women's and girls' vulnerabilities, challenges, and opportunities related to water access, management, and climate adaptation. This data informs policies and develops a deeper understanding of their current living conditions, empowering local authorities to respond inclusively and sustainably through capacity building. The participatory data collection process is based on Her4Water, a tool developed by Cities Alliance to understand women's participation, engagement and vulnerabilities with respect to water scarcity and other water-related climate risks.
  2. Support women's empowerment in sustainable water management through capacity building and interventions in public spaces: Facilitate active involvement of women and girls in the programme, enabling them to co-design solutions for identified challenges and implement pilot projects in their cities. Through comprehensive training and capacity-building initiatives, they enhance their knowledge and skills in inclusive urban water management.
  3. Foster exchange and learning for women-led sustainable water management in targeted cities and countries: Organize a series of exchange events to facilitate knowledge sharing among participating local authorities, civil society organizations, and national/international stakeholders. By disseminating project practices and key findings, the program scales up its impact and contributes to global efforts for creating more inclusive and resilient cities.

The key objectives of the programme include: 

  • Facilitating the participatory collection of sex-disaggregated data and gender-sensitive indicators on water governance.
  • Promoting women's leadership in water governance and management within cities.
  • Developing and strengthening the capacities of local and national authorities to design and implement gender-sensitive urban water infrastructures and services.
  • Supporting the economic security of women by enhancing their access to water for household use and food production, thereby reducing their workload.
  • Stimulating and supporting inclusive multi-level urban governance for water management.

Grantees of the programme:                                    
The Women and Sustainable Cities programme collaborates with local NGOs as grantees in Sebkha, Kairouan and Figuig. The NGOs Lam Echaml (Kairouan), Annahda (Figuig), Serv'Eau (Sebkha) have local knowledge on gender, WASH and participatory approaches and therefore ensure a contextualised project implementation in the cities. They are supporting the project throughout its first phase of data collection, piloting and capacity building for the community.

The close cooperation with the NGO generates capacity building and learning opportunities of project management skills for the present staff in the project cities. A close proximity to the community is ensured through this collaboration with and implementation through local actors, which aligns with Cities Alliance’s principles of localised and contextualised project conception and implementation.

empower a woman with water and she can change her city

 

Overview

Kairouan, one of the oldest and most sacred cities in Tunisia, is renowned for its rich water heritage. The city features an ingenious system of cisterns and underground reservoirs, known as the Aghlabid Basins, designed to collect and store rainwater. This sophisticated system, crafted with traditional expertise, allowed Kairouan to thrive in an arid environment, ensuring a sustainable water supply for its inhabitants. Today, the hydraulic systems of Majels (cisterns) stands as a testament to Islamic architectural ingenuity. While Majels are not as common anymore for the citizen's daily water use, they serve as an inspiration for modern water conservation solutions tailored to contemporary climate challenges. Among others, Femmes et Villes Durables seeks to revitalise the Majels as an essential part of rainwater collection on a household and communal level.

In collaboration with national NGO Lam Echaml and the local authority of Kairouan, the project in Kairouan centers around understanding the existence, value and use of Majels in water conservation practices. A large mapping activitiy to evaluate the role of Majels, the participatoin of women in water govrenance and their risks to heat and water scarcity are conducted. Women from the community and municipal staff members participate in training sessions and capacity building. Together with the local authority, one central public space in the city is rehabilitated with a communal Majel to become a more resilient and inclusive public space. 


Regional Programme Launch

On Tuesday, September 12, the regional Programme "Femmes et Villes Durables : améliorer l'accès à l'eau et la gestion des ressources" was officially launched on the regional level in a webinar with representatives of the three municipalities, the project donor, as well as local civil society. 


After the welcome by Cities Alliance as project implementer, and Cécile Frobert, Vice Director of the Democratic Governance Mission at the MEAE, the Deputy Mayor of Sebkha Diomanci Cissoko, Deputy President of Figuig, Jilal Sounni, and Head of Public Utilities of Kairouan, Hammadi Abdellah, shared insights into the challenges faced by the municipalities in combating climate change and water scarcity, and the pressing need to empower women and increase their participation in decision-making processes concerning water governance.

 

Participants during Webinar_Kairouan
Participants during the webinar in Kairouan

Expert voices of the fields of traditional water conservation techniques (Kairouan), regional initiatives to address climate change (Sebkha), and water governance in oases towns (Morocco) complemented the exchange. 


The high participation in the webinar showed the commitment and ownership of the project by the communities. It was an excellent start for the project and for discussions on more sustainable and inclusive water resource management and increasing drought in the three cities.


Key Stakeholder Workshop in Kairouan 


Following the successful project launch, key representatives of the municipality, the governorate, local civil society, water authorities, and research institutions came together in Kairouan on September 19 to discuss challenges and opportunities in governing local water scarcity.

Discussed topics were among others, the role of women in current municipal and regional sustainable water governance, the value that traditional water conservation techniques can play in adapting to climate change, as well as the importance of accessible water facilities and green public space for the Kairouan's citizens, and most importantly women and their families. Read a detailed summary here.