Resource information
The purpose of this report on enhancing
the role of women in water user associations in Azerbaijan
is to provide guidance for mainstreaming gender in
irrigation management projects in Azerbaijan and in the
wider Caucasus and Central Asian regions in order to foster
efficient and equitable development in irrigation
management. The paper is divided in three chapters. Chapter
one sets the background relating the themes of gender to
water users associations (WUAs) and irrigation agriculture.
It provides both the general sector background as well as an
introduction of the overall study and research that was
undertaken at the end of Irrigation Distribution System and
Management Improvement Project (IDSMIP). Chapter two
provides the informative basis for enhancing the role of
women in irrigation management. It analyses and discusses
the role of men and women in irrigation agriculture in
Azerbaijan by synthesizing the findings of the gender
survey. Chapter three provides lessons for WUAs in
Azerbaijan on how to promote gender equity and for World
Bank projects on how to operationalize gender mainstreaming
in irrigation agriculture in the country. It also provides
guidance in establishing an enabling environment that will
foster gender equity in similar irrigation sector programs
in the wider Caucasus and Central Asian region.
