The EcoShores Sustainable Futures Network (ESFN) and its partners will host a community consultation on March 30th, 2026, bringing women and girls together to explore the intersections of water access, climate change, and gender in Antigua and Barbuda. According to Antigua News Room, the event is being convened in recognition of World Water Day 2026 under ESFN's Climate and Care Nexus initiative.
The consultation, titled "Women & Water," will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Wadadli Spaces on Herberts Road. Organisers describe it as a safe and inclusive space where participants can share lived experiences, perspectives, and ideas that will feed directly into community-driven research, policy, and programme development.
ESFN underscores that women remain underrepresented in environmental decision-making, despite bearing a disproportionate burden of water insecurity and climate impacts. The consultation is designed to place affected women at the centre of identifying challenges and shaping solutions.
Insights gathered will contribute to locally-led research and inform national and regional discussions across four critical areas. The first is the care economy, examining how water access affects both paid and unpaid care work, including cooking, cleaning, childcare, and caregiving. The second focuses on women's health, exploring links between water quality, sanitation, climate stress, and women's physical, mental, maternal, and menstrual health. The third area addresses opportunity gaps — how water and climate challenges limit women's access to education, employment, and economic participation. The fourth reinforces ESFN's commitment to community-driven research by ensuring programme design reflects the knowledge and priorities of local women and girls.
"This initiative is about centering women's voices in climate and development conversations," said an ESFN representative. "By listening to lived experiences, we can design better systems of care, improve health outcomes, and close opportunity gaps in meaningful ways."
ESFN has acknowledged the support of sponsor Jim Daddy & Sons Ltd., whose contribution will provide free water to one participant during the session. Other attendees will receive an honorarium in recognition of their time, knowledge, and lived experience.
Women from all communities and backgrounds are encouraged to attend. Registration is available at https://qrco.de/bghSOt.
The EcoShores Sustainable Futures Network is a registered non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting sustainability, environmental conservation, and community empowerment across Small Island Developing States and the Southern United States. Its work spans climate justice, biodiversity, youth development, technology innovation, and education.
