Peer-to-Peer learning on inclusion
Climate and water impacts are not neutral, and therefore, neither is resilience building. Drawing on our network of experience in inclusive, country-led resilience work, the Water Resilience Tracker (WRT) team organised an online peer-to-peer learning workshop on 7 and 23 April 2026. The event took place in the context of World Water Day 2026, with its global focus on water and sanitation as critical enablers of gender equality.
The workshop built on the WRT Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Strategy and Action Plan, and the recently published WRT Policy Knowledge Brief Inclusion as Resilience: Operationalizing Equitable Water and Climate Governance.
Participants shared their stories of putting in inclusion in practice around the world, including from the UK’s FCDO, the African Civil Society Network for Water and Sanitation, the International Water Management Institute, and the WRT Nepal Team. Participants identified concrete actions to enhance equity of access and service delivery, improve the quality of resilience diagnostics, strengthen sustainability and government ownership, and incentivise meaningful GEDSI integration across national workplans.
The discussion converged around a shared challenge: moving GEDSI from policy commitment to meaningful implementation. Participants reflected not only on what needs to change, but how: through earlier integration, stronger operational mechanisms, and deeper attention to power, participation and lived realities.
Key takeaways
Move from policy to practice: While recognition of GEDSI in policy has improved, implementation often remains weak. Gaps include limited use of disaggregated analysis, insufficient budgeting, and weak translation of rights-based commitments from a global level into local action. The emphasis was on shifting from policy language to practical, accountable delivery.
Integrate GEDSI from the start, not as an add-on: Real-world experience from countries highlighted how early integration can positively shape who benefits, reduce unintended consequences, and strengthen outcomes.
Focus on power, participation and institutional change: Participants repeatedly returned to the question of who makes decisions, who is represented, and whose interests shape policy. They highlighted the difference between meaningful and symbolic participation, the importance of champions, and the need to break structural barriers to women's inclusion in higher-level decision-making. The reality that many key decisions affecting equity (such as tariffs) sit outside the water sector itself was also raised.
Strengthen tools, frameworks and operational mechanisms: Participants valued practical tools and frameworks that help interrogate policies and support action, but stressed these must go beyond superficial references. Discussion linked this to strengthening operational mechanisms around water rights, policy implementation and institutional accountability.
Ground GEDSI in lived Realities and intersectional understanding: Another recurring message was the need to move beyond simplistic gender inclusion approaches and better understand the realities, agency and layered exclusions experienced by women and marginalised groups. Participants stressed integrating gender and social inclusion throughout analysis, rather than treating them as separate components.