https://www.womenandrivers.com/women-and-rivers-congress/asia-women-and-rivers-congress-2024

Please note this is a draft agenda and some sessions may change as we develop further


Creating an inclusive forum and collaborative movement for women leaders and their supporters to share their experience and knowledge in water management, research, policy, and decision-making and their strategies for adapting to climate change and transitioning to just and sustainable energy practices.

We want participants, their organisations and institutions to: 

●      Be inspired by stories of resilience and success and women’s knowledge and capacities.

●      Build on and deepen the existing networks and collaborations and create new ones

●      Provide and share opportunities for women and their supporters to learn new skills and strategies to be prepared to meet new challenges

●      Encourage dialogue across disciplines and sectors

 

Summary Agenda

●      Tuesday 4th June:    Building Trust and Sparking Inspiration

●      Wednesday 5th June:  Celebrating World Environment Day in the first part of the day and then moving into Identifying the challenges and learning from women collaborating together.  

●      Thursday 6th June:      Translating our Vision and Learning into Action and Closing Ceremony

 

DAY ONE: Renewing, meeting and sharing -who we are, what we do and what we know


06.00   Participants are invited to join morning exercise/reflection, yoga and mindfulness.

07.00  Registration (as well as the day before, June 3rd)

 

Plenary 8.00 - 10.00 Powerful Beginnings


10.00 - 10.30 BREAK


10.30-12.00 PLENARY 


Where are we now?

Thai hosts and participants from North Thailand tell us about the river basin(s) we are connected to here in Chiang Rai and describe the issues faced by women.


Speakers:

 


Taking a regional and river basin perspective: Moving out from North Thailand we begin to describe the issues women and their communities face in the management of water, energy, and climate adaptation in Southeast and South Asia.

 

What are the issues/challenges women face in managing their river resources?  

Panel presentation and discussion.   

 

Panel Chair: Ms Sophoan Phean, National Director, Oxfam in Cambodia

Panel members: 

 

●      Mayalmit Lepcha, Affected Citizens of Teesta, Sikkim, India

●      Sompong Viengjun, Assembly of the Poor, Pak Mun Dam, Thailand

●      Srang Lanh - Cambodia Indigenous Women Association, Cambodia


Responses from the floor including participants from other regions: Africa and Australia.

 

Table discussions.

 

12.00-13.30 Lunch


13.30-14.00

Introduction to the Breakout Sessions

   


14.00-15.30 Breakout sessions:

Participants will be invited to self-select to attend a Breakout Session noting that one topic (WIWG) is being run over 2 days.

 

i)               Storytelling: Women in Water Governance (WIWG) Part 1 (second part June 5th)

This session will Introduce the WIWG Platform and how it has been co-created, explain its principles, governance, and application and seek participant inputs. There will be discussion on how storytelling fits within participatory methodologies and storytellers will share their experiences.

 

Facilitators – Saowalak, Karen and Pyrou (Members of the WIWG Steering Committee)

 

ii)             Women-Led Initiatives in Just Energy Transition

Ensuring a Just Energy Transition (JET) in the Asia region is a significant challenge with many commitments being made to equitable benefit sharing by developers, institutions and governments. The reality is that energy transition initiatives and mechanisms for equitable benefit sharing do not consider Free Prior and Informed Consent, the agency of women and particularly indigenous women. Women are treated as community members who need to be protected from the impacts rather than participants in the process.

 

Facilitator: Daniel Abunales, Ecology and Social Justice Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Southeast Asia Regional Office


iii)           Communications Part 1: Building compelling stories for successful campaigning

 

Throughout human history we have explained the world to each other through stories, from oral stories to visual ones today. We’re all storytellers who can lead others to join and achieve your goals. In this session we will discuss the importance of compelling stories in our campaigns and work. We will also share tools, best practices and techniques and have time to practice. Participants will leave the session with both tools and an outline of their story to build upon. 

 

Facilitator; Bonnie Barclay and Isadora Armani International Rivers


(iv) Working with legal frameworks - opportunities and threats. A session showcasing some interesting cases on using legal recourse by communities in their efforts to protect their rivers. We will hear from Lawyers in Thailand and Nepal about their historic cases and strategies that can be used across the region.

 

Facilitator – Genny Ngende, International Rivers


15.30-16.00 BREAK


16.00-17.00 Closing plenary 


Opening the Sharing Market

Brief introduction and walk around so participants can see which organizations are present and their work.

Participants are invited to visit during the presentations over the next 2 days

 

18.30 Solidarity Dinner/Dancing/Singing

Our hosts will start the evening with a blessing led by women from the community near Chiang Rai

 


DAY 2 World Environment Day: Identifying the challenges to protect our environment and the tools and approaches we can use   


Sunrise Yoga/Breakfast completing the World Environment Day (WED) art project


8.00-9.00 PLENARY


Opening check-in


9.00 - 10:30 PANEL


Marking World Environment Day


World Environment Day: Our Land, Our Future: The role women can play in protecting and restoring our environment.

 

The session will highlight three aspects of this year’s WED theme i.e. drought and flood and (women’s) resilience. Panelists will share their knowledge, experience, and observations with a focus on women.

 

Panel Chair:  Associate Prof. Dr. Kanokwan Manorom

Department of Social Science Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University, 

 

Panel Presentation and Discussion and Q & A

 

Panel members:


 

10.30 - 11.00 BREAK

Group Photo to celebrate WED. Participants are encouraged to post on their networks and social media to tell others what is happening at the congress.


11-12.30 Breakout sessions

 

i)               Workshop on Biocultural Protocols 

The role of community protocols in implementing Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in the protection of the Himba and other Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Namibia followed by a short workshop on how you might initiate a process for “Biocultural Protocols” (BCP) in your community. 


A BCP is a protocol developed following a community consultative process to outline their core ecological, cultural and spiritual values and customary laws relating to their traditional knowledge and resources, providing clear terms and conditions to regulate access to their knowledge and resources.

 

Facilitator: Genny Ngende, International Rivers

 

ii)             SHERO Journey: Indigenous Women Fighting for Resources and Recognition, tales from Indigenous women

This session will be organized through storytelling, discussion, and interactive activities.  Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the resilience, strength, and leadership of indigenous women in environmental and social justice movements. 

 

Facilitator: Kaneka Keo, Oxfam Mekong Water Governance

 

iii)           Women Using Technology: AI and Environmental Governance

Many of our strategies for women’s empowerment rely on digital technology yet we rarely consider the implications or think how the global trends can affect us.  This session will focus on indigenous women and raise participants’ awareness of how they might be misrepresented, dehumanized and their culture appropriated, particularly in the digital space. Indigenous women in particular face online gender-based violence driven by harmful stereotypes, amplifying narratives beyond their control. There is an urgent need for more inclusive and sensitive governance structures to counter digital harms and protect women and marginalized communities. The first step is for women to be aware of the risks.

 

Facilitator: Pyrou Chung, East West Management Institute / Knowledge for Development

 

iv)           Women conducting their own research and being the subject of research-who is learning what? 

The purpose of this session is to identify good practice in approaches to research by and with women and build on examples and outcomes that the panel and participants identify. Whist the subject of the research may be referred to in order to illustrate a point, the session will not describe the content of the research-rather what approaches and good practice should be principles for research with women


Facilitator: TBD

 

12.30-14.00 LUNCH


14.00-17.00

Community visit hosted by MCI and community members for limited number of participants.

Participants to sign up on Day One

 

14.00-15.30 Breakout sessions for participants not on community visit

 

i)  Climate Resilient Pathways

The session aims to inspire, empower, and equip women with the tools and knowledge needed to harness the potential of aquaponics as a sustainable strategy for coping with climate change risks and improving livelihoods along Southeast Asia rivers. The session will provide practical knowledge for attendees to initiate or scale up aquaponics projects in their own communities and facilitate networking and collaboration.


Facilitator: Michelle Chic Guido, Oxfam

 

ii)    Session 2: WIWG Storytelling

This session will follow on from Part 1 and participants will gain skills by following a real time story to make their own stories for the platform.


Facilitator – Saowalak, Karen and Pyrou (Members of the WIWG Steering Committee)


15.30 - 16:00 BREAK


16.00 -16.15 Closing out the day


16.15 - 17.00

“Free time ‘’ to visit Sharing Market place

Recording participant video interviews

 

DINNER OUTSIDE

 

Movie night

Participants showcase videos from their organisation

 


DAY 3 Don’t stop now…continue sharing the experiences/methodologies and tools and what do we take home?


Early morning activities



8.00-10.30 PLENARY SESSION:  


Women’s Leadership  Kimberly Council Australia .

 

A First Nation Woman Leader from Australia will talk about her work mobilising women in remote areas and the challenges they face and how they have responded. There will then be an opportunity for all participants, particularly indigenous participants to discuss and share experiences and build solidarity and knowledge.  

 

Facilitator: Rutmanee Ongsakul, Mekong Australia Partnership, Australian Embassy Thailand.


10.30-11.00 BREAK


11.00-12.30 BREAK OUT SESSIONS

 

i)      Communications Part 2: Best Practices in working with the Media

Media coverage can help your work and your community gain the needed attention to achieve your goals, exposing new audiences to your work as well as providing opportunities for your key message and call for action to break through to those who can help you in your mission. 


Join the session to hear from a woman leader in Thailand who often succeeds in getting media coverage, learn her techniques and approaches. Participants will also learn about the different tools and techniques and hear about a successful case study from Latin America that broke through globally and continues to build.


Facilitators: Bonnie Barclay, Pai Deetes and Isadora Armani - International Rivers

 

ii)     Inclusive Actions for Water Climate Resilience

The session will look at how programs preparing and responding to climate emergencies and adaptation can be more inclusive of those people who are often excluded or on the margins of the community. This includes PLWD, youth, indigenous and others. The session will share the findings of recent research on PLWD in Vietnam and other examples where programs have been more inclusive. It will provide a safe space to discuss the challenges of inclusion and identify practical recommendations for future work.


Facilitator: Ms. Phan Thi Thu Huong, Oxfam Mekong Regional Water Governance

 

iii)  Rights of Rivers

Understanding the global movement to grant legal rights to rivers. The ancient notion that nature possess basic rights has been adopted in several countries from New Zealand to Colombia. 


In many cases, indigenous communities are appointed as guardians of these rivers. This global momentum is seen as a response to threats to rivers and freshwater ecosystems. 


Facilitator: Ayesha Dsouza, International Rivers

 

12.30-14.00 LUNCH


14.00-14.45 PLENARY SESSION


Donor commitments for the basins -a chance to interact with our supporters


14.45-16.00 OPEN SPACE SESSION:

An opportunity for participants to follow up on what they have seen or heard and discuss further.

Topics are identified by the participants.

Tea break part of Open space


16.00 - 16:30

Signing off on  Solidarity Statement  


16.45 - 17:30

Closing Reflection

REFLECTION AS WE ALL START TO GO HOME AND BACK TO OUR COMMUNITIES


Dinner out


Evening

Stories around the ‘’campfire’’