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Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the Iraqi group Women and the Environment Network (WATEO). PHOTO/Rousbeh Legatis/IPS
Rousbeh Legatis interviews MISHKAT AL MOUMIN, founder of Women and the Environment Network (WATEO)
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13, 2012 (IPS) – Empowering rural women in the Iraqi marshlands, who mostly remain off the radar of international support, must involve local languages and dialects as well as local women trainers, says Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the Iraqi group Women and the Environment Network (WATEO).
“Oftentimes, international organisations are interested in empowering urban women politically and economically, and less attention is given to rural women,” observed Al Moumin, who was Iraq’s environment minister from 2003 to 2005.
Through training in resources management and environmental design at the village level, WATEO empowers rural women as primary users of environmental resources, particularly water.
Hailing recent efforts by U.N. Women, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), and the U.N. Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) to address issues facing rural women, she said, “Hopefully, more discussion and actions will take place.”
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