Project implementation:
About the project
Transboundary water management in the Mano River Basin – led by government agencies, technical groups, and regional frameworks – has helped promote cooperation among member states. However, these systems remain largely top-down and male-dominated. While efforts to promote gender inclusion exist, most gender mainstreaming initiatives fall short by excluding women’s perspectives from key decision-making forums.
This lack of genuine participation creates persistent inequalities and undermines inclusive, peaceful water management in the region’s shared basins. Critically, there is no sustained presence of women-led platforms that connect high-level regional governance with community-level realities. As a result, women’s unique knowledge, priorities, and conflict-resolution capacities are often overlooked in transboundary water governance.
Addressing these gaps requires deliberate action to institutionalize women’s leadership, strengthen long-term participatory platforms, and ensure that gender perspectives are fully integrated into basin-wide management and decision-making processes.
Key objectives
- To conduct a comprehensive gender assessment of Mano River Basin governance frameworks, strategic plans, and operational systems to identify gaps and opportunities for inclusion.
- To strengthen institutional and community capacity by training River Basin Organization (RBO) staff and women leaders from basin communities on gender mainstreaming, participatory decision-making, and negotiation in transboundary water governance.
- To develop a basin-wide Gender Inclusion Action Plan/Strategy through multi-stakeholder consultations involving RBOs, transboundary water institutions, and other relevant partners to institutionalize gender-responsive governance.
- To support the implementation of priority gender actions by providing technical and innovative assistance to RBOs and piloting women-led participatory forums that promote gender-inclusive dialogue in transboundary water management.
This project is part of the BRIDGE (Building River Dialogue and Governance) initiative grants: Gender Mainstreaming Grants / Women Leadership Grants. The BRIDGE Grants aim to address barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment in transboundary water governance. The grants support practical actions to strengthen inclusive institutions and promote women-led solutions for managing and restoring freshwater ecosystems. BRIDGE is made possible through the Water Diplomacy Programme of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).
