Presented by IWMI's Alan Nicol at a meeting on '“Gender, Agricultural Water and ‘Big Data’: Practical steps and forwards thinking under the SDGs” held in Sri Lanka, on October 12, 2015.

1. Photo:DavidBrazier/IWMI
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A water-secure world

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A water-secure world
Overview
• Our purpose and agenda
• Background
– How do these relate to agricultural water,
gender and ‘big data’
• A proposition and example
– Who, what, when and how?
• 4BGP

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A water-secure world
Purpose and agenda
• Purpose: To assess and respond to the global (and local) challenge of data,
gender equality and agricultural water development as the global community
moves forward with implementation of the SDGs.
• Core questions: What can the water, gender and agriculture communities do
better through data management and use to track progress in achieving water,
food security and gender targets? How can ‘big data’ (and ‘smart data’) be
utilized more effectively? What potential role is there for the development of a
single global report on gender and water in agriculture to assist in measuring
progress in this vital area?
• How can we develop and use large data sets to address more effectively issues
of gender and development in water resources management and use (with a
strong focus on water use in agriculture)?; and
• What existing and new platforms, networks and processes – including global
reporting – are needed to take the agenda forward and support the achievement
of the Sustainable Development Goals?

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A water-secure world

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A water-secure world
Background
• 17 SDGs
– SDGs 1 (end poverty in all its forms) 2 (end
hunder, achieve food security and improved
nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture)
5 (achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls) 6 (ensure availability and
sustainable management of water and
sanitation for all)
• Key linkages: But do we know enough?
• What is ‘big data’?
– “Big data is being generated by everything around
us at all times. Every digital process and social
media exchange produces it. Systems, sensors
and mobile devices transmit it. Big data is arriving
from multiple sources at an alarming velocity,
volume and variety. To extract meaningful value
from big data, you need optimal processing” (IBM)
– ‘very large data sets that can reveal patterns,
trends, and associations, especially relating to
human behaviour and interactions’, as well as
potential ways of employing ‘crowd-sourcing’ to
support innovation and grassroots influencing.

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A water-secure world
A proposition
Gender, Water
and Agriculture
– A Global
report
1. Establish a system for gathering,
collating and synthesizing existing data on
gender, water and agriculture
2. Present the information in simple and
visually accessible manner (dashboard
approach)
3. Repeat exercize and report
back to a global audience on a
two-yearly cycle, with a specific
focal theme per report (e.g. land
and water; ecosystems; markets;
youth and migration, etc)

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A water-secure world
An example?
• “Launched in 1980, The State of
the World’s Children is the most
comprehensive analysis of global
trends affecting children. Each
year the report examines a key
issue for children and presents in
an accessible format up-to-date
economic and social statistics on
the countries and territories of the
world, with particular reference to
children’s well-being. In keeping
with UNICEF’s broader mandate,
The State of the World’s Children
has become not only a major
reference source of information on
children worldwide, but also a
leading advocacy tool for those
working to realize children’s
rights”.

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A water-secure world
Four Basin Gender Profiles
• 4BGP aims to provide evidence
base for analysis of gender
disparities and implications
• Open-source, sex-disaggregated
and gender-related development
data
• Policy makers and basin
authorities, researchers and civil
society groups
• Identification of new gender-
related R4D in each basin
• http://wle.cgiar.org/genderbasinm
aps/

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A water-secure world
Key questions
• What purpose would be served?
• What indicators might be included?
• How might data be acquired?
• Crowd-sourcing?
• Big data, big crunching…
• What ‘big leaps’ are possible?