The capacity building training that WWAP offers to officers is tailored to be country- or region-specific. It aims to integrate sex-disaggregated indicators into national strategies, and to improve the use of gender statistics and related analysis for informed adaptation of related water policies and strategies. This will promote the availability of sex-disaggregated water data availability and allow monitoring of regional trends and progress towards the Agenda 2030 achievements.

In 2013, a survey by the UN Statistical Commission showed that ‘gendered’ water data is the least available of national-level indicators. This lack of sex-disaggregated water data stalls the progress in the collection of relevant scientific evidence on gender inequalities in the water realm. Nevertheless, the existence of sex-disaggregated water data  is crucial for developing gender sensitive water policies in view of the global commitments to gender equality and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development in general.

One of the spear point objectives of the UN World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) of UNESCO is to help overcoming the gap in gender data and to lay the fundaments to advance on the ground gender equality and women’s empowerment. The focus in WWAP’s work is on the interlinkages among SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 6 (water and sanitation) and all other related SDGs. WWAP’s methodology on the collection of water-related sex disaggregated data and indicators may play a crucial role in doing so. The validity of this toolkit has been recognized by –among others- the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW, 2014), the 60th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60, 2016), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2016).

WWAP’s training program aims to add a gender dimension to all future monitoring, assessment and reporting for SDG 6 on water, in order to highlight women’s contribution in the water realm. A systematic utilization of gender-sensitive indicators for water monitoring, assessment and reporting –as developed by the WWAP and elaborated upon in the trainings- will fuel improved statistics on gender and water to inform evidence-based and effective policies for women’s empowerment and gender equality.