Water and Climate Change: everyone has a role to play

Water and climate change are inextricably linked. Clean, safe and accessible water for everyone in the community plays a critical role in addressing poverty and contributing to economic and human development.

Sustainable and efficient use of water is critical to climate change resilience and adapting to the water effects of climate change will protect health and save lives.

Australia is supporting water for development through several key programs throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

World Water Day	International Women’s Day
On 22 March, World Water Day (WWD) will be celebrated globally. The theme for 2020 is ‘Water and Climate Change’ – a challenge of great importance globally and to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Water Resource Management (WRM) sectors and a theme that will run throughout 2020 and beyond.	On 8 March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated globally. The theme for 2020 is ‘Each for Equal.’ Women have an important role to play in addressing challenges brought about by climate change. Women’s voices must be heard and they can be leaders in this space, an equal world is an enabled world.

 

Australia Water Partners for Development – a collaboration between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Water for Women Fund (WfW) and the Australian Water Partnership (AWP) – will be marking these days across the Indo-Pacific region and invite you and your network to share your water-related work and success stories from Australian aid supported programs. Guidance on submissions and submission templates can be found below.
In this EOI:

• A message from DFAT
• Guidelines for Submissions
• Key dates
• Why Submit?
• Submission Form
• DFAT Guidelines on ethical photography
• Template consent form (organisations can use their own consent procedures as long as they abide by the ethical guidelines

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A message from the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: In 2020, climate change is the theme adopted by the UN for World Water Day and for Stockholm World Water Week, reflecting the primacy of this issue and its close links to water. Climate change is an increasingly important area of policy development and programming in the Australian aid program.  Our work provides good examples of how climate adaptation and resilience is achieved through well-designed water (and WASH) projects. World Water Day 2020 is a valuable opportunity for us to demonstrate our close alignment with this evolving area of interest in Australian aid.  We want to showcase your examples. DFAT’s Water portfolio will continue to increase its focus on climate change. For example, the next WASH / Water Futures Conference in early 2021, is expected to strongly feature the intersection of WASH, water resource management and climate change.

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Guidelines for Submission

We are looking for stories of individuals, families, communities and organisations that have been or are being positively impacted through support from Australian Aid programs or those who are working hard to deliver these programs, related to the theme of ‘Water and Climate Change’.

We are seeking updates on work being undertaken that contributes to climate change resilience and adaptation and the empowerment of women in the WASH and WRM sectors.

Submission templates are provided below.

Theme: Water and climate change
Sub-theme: Women have a role to play

Content can be new or existing, and must:

• originate from a country in the Indo-Pacific region;
• be related to work being done in the WRM/WASH sectors;
• abide by the DFAT guidelines on ethical photography;
• include visual assets such as photographs or video footage and short description explaining the context (see form below); and
• where possible, feature the subject’s voice or perspective, either through a direct quote or narration from their point of view

Key Dates

14 February	Content Submissions Due
8 March – 22 March	“Australia Water Partners for Development” online campaign
8 March	International Women’s Day celebrated
22 March	Regional celebration of Australian Water for Development Work (through DFAT, DFAT Post and Water Partners)

 

Why Submit?

It is important that we showcase the breadth of work being done in the region by our Australian partners. Your stories will be shared with DFAT and regional DFAT Posts and will also be featured on DFAT/AWP/WfW websites and social platforms for IWD, WWD and throughout the year. The aim is to collect at least one case study for each country in the region where Australian Aid programs are operating.

If you have questions about submitting content, please contact us.