UWASP Partners Deepen Inclusive Water Stewardship Through Gender and Inclusivity Training
Building inclusive water stewardship requires more than technical solutions – it demands intentional reflection, dialogue and action. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)’s Natural Resources Stewardship Programme II (NatuReS II) brought this to life by hosting a dynamic Gender and Inclusivity training workshop from 23 – 26 March 2026 in Richards Bay. Taking place shortly after World Water Day, under the theme “Water and Gender”, the training formed part of a broader effort to advance more inclusive water governance and ensure that gender considerations are meaningfully and systemically integrated into stewardship processes.
This training contributes to the uMhlathuze Water Stewardship Partnership’s (UWASP) work supported by NatuReS II to strengthen inclusive, participatory governance approaches and ensure that women, youth and marginalised groups have a meaningful role in stewardship and Just Transition processes. It brought together partners from the public, private and civil society sectors to collectively strengthen inclusive participation in water stewardship and governance.
Participants included representatives from the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ), uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW), the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Pongola-uMzimkhulu Catchment Management Agency (PUCMA), the City of uMhlathuze Municipality, Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), Foskor, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Green Chapter Foundation. Facilitated by Gender Links, the training created a safe and dynamic space for reflection, dialogue and practical learning on how gender and social inclusion influence participation, decision-making and access within stewardship processes.
Participants engaged with key themes including gender equity and social inclusion (GESI), unconscious bias, inclusive governance and gender-responsive planning, as well as the links between water security, climate resilience and social justice. These themes are central to the training’s design, which intentionally positions gender equity and social inclusion as foundational pillars of effective and sustainable water stewardship.
A key highlight of the training was its highly interactive and reflective approach. Through group discussions and practical exercises, participants explored how exclusion can manifest in everyday institutional practices and project implementation. Many reflected that the training prompted new ways of thinking and surfaced blind spots, challenged them to think differently about issues they had not previously considered in their work and reinforced the importance of creating intentional spaces for learning and dialogue.
Beyond capacity building, the training represents an important step toward embedding inclusivity more intentionally into UWASP’s collective work and strengthening how partners integrate the needs and rights of women and marginalised groups into stewardship planning and action.
As UWASP continues to advance collaborative responses to water security challenges in the uMhlathuze catchment, this training marks an important milestone in reinforcing that effective stewardship must also be deeply inclusive stewardship – centring people, equity, and participation at every step.
Author: Noxolo Mbebe