elbarlament to Co-Convene World Water Week 2026 Session on Women’s Leadership in Water Governance
How do we move from inclusion to genuine influence—and create institutions where women’s leadership can thrive, be exercised and endure?
elbarlament is proud to be co-convening a session at World Water Week 2026 exploring how institutions can move beyond simply supporting women to participate and towards creating the conditions for women to lead and influence decision-making.
The session, From Inclusion to Influence: Institutionalizing Women’s Leadership in Water Governance, will take place on 27 August 2026 at 09:00 CEST as part of World Water Week in Stockholm and online.
Women across the water sector bring significant technical knowledge, expertise and experience. Yet this expertise does not always translate into leadership positions or influence over the decisions that shape the sector.
Addressing this gap requires more than investing in individual women. It requires institutions to examine the structures, cultures and systems that determine who has the opportunity to lead—and to create the conditions in which women’s leadership can be sustained.
Drawing on practical experience from elbarlament’s programmes in Iraq and Yemen, the session will explore lessons from our work on:
- Leadership development grounded in real-world contexts
- Mentoring and peer support for continuous learning and connection
- Turning learning into workplace practice
- Embedding women’s leadership across institutions
- Building institutional mechanisms for replication and sustainability
Through a keynote intervention, elbarlament will share insights into how leadership development can move beyond individual capacity-building to contribute to wider institutional transformation.
The session will bring together practitioners and organisations working across the water sector to explore a critical question: what does it take to build institutions where women’s leadership is not exceptional, temporary or dependent on individual champions—but embedded in the way institutions work?
Join us at World Water Week on 27 August 2026 at 09:00 CEST.
Learn more about the event, explore the programme and register to participate through the official World Water Week 2026 website. World Water Week takes place from 23–27 August 2026 in Stockholm and online under the theme Water for People and Progress.