Press releases

March 6, 2008
Tune in for webcast on women and water

The panel discussion The Heaviest Load, presented by the WaterAidAmerica Dialogue Series in conjunction with the American Museum ofNatural History, will be webcast live at 12 noon EST (4pm GMT) on March22, 2008.

The panel will discuss the traditional role of womenin managing domestic water resources in developing countries throughoutAfrica and Asia, and will explore how the participation of women inplanning and managing community water services ensures sustainability.

The panel will explore how the participation of women inplanning and managing community water services ensures sustainability.

TheHeaviest Load will be moderated by President of the Women's MediaCenter and AMREF/USA Board Member, Carol Jenkins. An Emmy award-winningformer news anchor and correspondent who covered presidential politicsas well as international issues, Ms. Jenkins is a national spokeswomanfor women and the media, arguing the case for inclusion of womenthroughout the media. She has worked extensively to promote the causeof the women and children of war ravaged Africa.

Thepanelists will be Yassine Fall, Netsanet Mengistu and Lydia Zigomo, allof whom have extensive experience in championing women's rights in thedeveloping world.

Yassine Fall was previously ExecutiveDirector of the Association of African Women for Research andDevelopment, and she facilitated policy dialogue between Africangovernments and women's constituencies throughout Africa. In 2005, shehelped launch the African Women Millennium Initiative on Poverty andHuman Rights (AWOMI). Its objective is to empower and engageimpoverished women and youth by fostering education and leadership andensuring their access to economic opportunities.

Lydia Zigomo isWaterAid's Head of Region for East Africa where she manages strategicdirection relating to increasing universal access to basic watersanitation and hygiene education, while championing equity andinclusion organization-wide. With 13 years of program and policyexperience, Ms. Zigomo has focused on reproductive health and rights,HIV/AIDS, rights-based approaches, gender mainstreaming, and women andchildren's rights in the African context.

Netsanet Mengistu isfounder and Director of ZemaSef, a leading Ethiopian nongovernmentalorganization committed to empowering women by promoting education andtechnical training, increasing the awareness and active participationof women in human rights issues, establishing credit facilities andinstitutional support systems, designing and implementing supportmeasures for food security, and, in general, sensitizing women toissues critical to family health and survival.

To watch the webcast simply visit the World Water Day page on the American Museum of Natural History's website.

Read more about the moderator and panelists.

Read details of the event, held at the ANMH in New York, for those wishing to attend.