In the spirit of International Women’s Day, we honor and appreciate the women alongside whom we have the pleasure of working. At the front of classrooms, workshops, boardrooms, and movements, women are powerful agents of change. They are leaders in accelerating gender equality in WASH and the world. Srijana Karki is a leader who is accelerating gender equality in Nepal.
As a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Officer with Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), a partner in CAWST’s Water Expertise and Training Centre program, Srijana has over a decade of experience in WASH planning and project implementation. She brings a gender equity and social inclusion lens to all projects and organizations that ENPHO supports, to influence practices that will enhance equitable participation in decision making.
“There are many barriers to gender equity and social inclusion. First of all, I work in a very patriarchal society. Stereotypes around gender run deep and influence all WASH. We’ve seen a commitment to gender equality through government policy, but I feel strongly that the greatest opportunity for practical change starts at the household level.
In many households, there’s a prevailing belief that WASH is women’s work. Men must support it too. We can influence the shift in belief and behavior with ongoing sensitization and mainstream. Sometimes projects include one training on gender roles, but that is insufficient. Shifting stereotypes requires daily repetition of messages on gender equality and strategic interventions, such as creating meaningful leadership roles for women on community committees.
Indeed, WASH is a powerful platform for gender equality at the community level. As Srijana sees it, shifts must happen at the organizational level too.
“One of the most exciting areas in my work is within my organization, and others we support, to integrate gender policy. We recently reviewed the ENPHO gender policy. Learning from that, we guided four organizations to complete gender assessments of their organizations. From there, we helped them develop gender policies and implement them in the field. Implementation included creating key positions for women, both at the coordinator level and field staff, and mainstreaming gender throughout the full project cycle. The results are hopeful. On community visits I often see men cleaning and supporting household water work with pride.”
A champion for gender equality in all that she does, Srijana walks the talk. We’re privileged to walk alongside her in her work.
“I simply feel lucky to work in this area. When I completed my first master’s degree in Rural Development, I started to work in WASH. Soon, I ran up against recurring limitations of WASH interventions due to gender stereotypes and a lack of consideration of gender in the design of interventions. Women simply could not access WASH in the same way as men. So, I pursued a second master’s degree in gender to get beyond my surface-level observations. This education opened an opportunity for me to implement my knowledge in bringing gender sensitizing campaigns to life within our interventions. Now, I’m honored to represent ENPHO at international and national forums, sharing cases and knowledge. But I’m also always eager to learn more.”
Srijana is keen to learn and we’re keen to learn with her as well, especially in our upcoming gender assessment. Currently, Srijana is leading a gender assessment of our work together on the Global Affairs Canada-supported Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund. The 2015 earthquake in Nepal was devastating and left many without access to water. ENPHO and CAWST educated on water and sanitation solutions to help those with the least access – women, children, and low-income people – recover, rebuild, and stay healthy in the aftermath. Srijana’s gender assessment will reveal where we’ve advanced on gender awareness to inform our future work.
Srijana is hopeful for the future of gender equality in WASH and the world.
“First of all, let’s not just talk about gender equality, let’s invest in it. The proper investment means developing the capacity of local organizations for gender mainstreaming. Once we have that proper investment, my hope is that anything done in WASH considers the needs of women in both the practical and strategic senses. Perhaps most importantly, my hope is that in offices, households, communities, and within ourselves, we start a dialogue to fight the stereotypes that permeate media, institutions, and culture. That’s my biggest hope to shift gender equality.”
