50 participants gathered from 26 to 28 March to share their experiences related to ensuring that early warning systems are gender responsive. The workshop, organized under the framework of the CREWS Southeast Asia project, was attended by participants from government agencies, NGOs, IOs, and CSOs.
The workshop organized by World Meteorological Organization, together with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and People in Need (PIN) entitled ‘Mainstreaming Gender into End-2-End-Early Warning System for Flood Forecasting (E2E-EWS-FF) and Integrated Flood Management (IFM)’ took place in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The various sessions of the workshop provided an opportunity to share experiences related to gender-specific issues and needs, and to equip participants with tools and methods for gender mainstreaming in the planning and implementation processes of E2E EWS FF and IFM in Lao PDR.
Initial recommendations of the gender mainstreaming workshops included:
- Ensuring that gender issues are seriously and effectively considered in flood risk prevention, preparedness, and management activities;
- Ensuring there is a sex-disaggregated database available at the national level;
- Ensuring workshop knowledge and tools are shared with other stakeholders at national and local levels; and
- Ensuring the co-developed project concept note on different topics related to mainstreaming gender into flood management activities is implemented using internal and external funding mechanism.
The workshop used a training manual developed by the Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM) of WMO and the Global Water Partnership (GWP), which strives to fill gaps in practical knowledge and decision-making processes related mainstreaming of gender to E2E-EWS-FF and IFM.
A similar national workshop covering the same topics will be held subsequently in Cambodia as part of the CREWS Southeast Asia project.