The Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) Director General, Ms. Misozi Ngulube, participated in a panel discussion organised by the African Women Sanitation Professionals Network (AWSPN) at the 14th Zambia Water Forum and Exhibition (ZAWAFE), held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka.
The discussion centred on womenโ€™s leadership in accelerating integrated resilience solutions for Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on strengthening water security and climate resilience.
During the session, Ms. Ngulube emphasised that womenโ€™s leadership is a critical component of effective water governance and should be understood as a resilience and systems issue rather than a standalone gender consideration.
She noted that Zambiaโ€™s water sector operates within a broad mandate that requires an integrated, sustainable, and inclusive approach to water resources-the-board management, particularly in the context of increasing pressures from climate change, population growth, and competing water demands across key economic sectors.
The Director General highlighted that women play a central role in water management at household and community level, where they are often the first to experience and respond to water scarcity challenges. She stressed the importance of ensuring that this lived experience is reflected in formal decision-making structures within the sector.
Ms. Ngulube further underscored WARMAโ€™s role as a regulator in promoting accountable and participatory water governance systems through catchment-based management structures that facilitate stakeholder engagement in water allocation, protection, and sustainable utilisation.
She observed that while progress has been made in advancing inclusivity, there remains a need to strengthen womenโ€™s participation and influence in technical, leadership, and policy decision-making spaces across the water sector to enhance resilience and sustainability outcomes.
The panel discussion provided a strategic platform for dialogue on strengthening inclusive water governance systems in support of Zambiaโ€™s Vision 2030 and Sustainable Development Goal 6.