Learning Brief: 'Do No Harm' - Women's Empowerment in WASH

The empowerment of women and marginalised people is central to Water for Women, and recognised as key to leaving no one behind in achieving clean water and sanitation for all (SDG 6). But it can come at a cost, if we do not pro-actively address backlash and potential harms involved in challenging entrenched gender and social norms. This is what is known as having a ‘Do No Harm’ lens.

With funding support from the Australian Government, Water for Women supported one of its partners, Habitat for Humanity Fiji, to undertake a pilot in Do No Harm on women’s empowerment in WASH.  The pilot involved collaboration with the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and supported the use and adaptation of IWDA’s DNH toolkit: Integrating the Elimination of Violence Against Women into Women’s Economic Empowerment Program.

Reflections and lessons learned from this are shared in this learning brief.