Climate Change Response for Inclusive WASH: A guidance note for Plan International Indonesia

Climate change affects different parts of the community in different ways. In many situations, climate change impacts on WASH are more likely to disproportionately affect women and people with disabilities. When women are primary managers of water and carers of children and other dependent people, they may take on the greater WASH workload resulting from climate hazards. When women and people with disabilities have relatively lower social and legal status and hold less political power within a community, this limits their influence on decisions about how families and communities should respond to maintain WASH access against climate change impacts.Women have knowledge about and experience in responding to climate change impacts on WASH, including from roles in households and communities as WASH managers. It is important to provide spaces for women’s voices on these issues to be heard. Supporting women and people with disabilities to address the differential impacts of climate change through addressing social inequality is critical for enabling inclusive WASH.