SOURCE Pacific Drinking Water Project Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu

The report assesses gender dynamics in water access and climate resilience across four Pacific Island Countries (PICs). It finds that women and girls bear the primary burden of water collection and management but are systematically excluded from decision-making and governance. Climate change exacerbates these inequalities through droughts and saltwater intrusion. The assessment recommends increasing women's leadership in water committees, investing in gender-sensitive infrastructure, and improving the collection of sex-disaggregated data to inform policy.

• Women and girls in the target countries are primarily responsible for household water collection and management, yet they are largely excluded from decision-making at community and national levels.
• In Papua New Guinea, water collection is performed by women and girls in 89% of households, but they are rarely recognized as owners of water sources or included in governance; furthermore, only 18% of workers in the WASH sector are women.
• The Republic of the Marshall Islands faces extreme vulnerability to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, which increases the burden on women to find alternative water sources during droughts.
• In Tonga, 80% of households rely on rainwater for drinking water, and women face systemic barriers in decision-making, with disaster preparedness committees typically being male-led.
• Vanuatu reports significant gender disparities in water governance, where women make up only 16% of the 2,237 members of water committees despite fetching approximately two-thirds of household water.
• High rates of gender-based violence are identified as a barrier to women's social and economic participation across the region, with 67% of women in PNG and 51% of women in RMI reporting experiences of violence.
• Customary laws and land tenure systems in all four countries often prioritize male ownership and decision-making, undermining formal legal protections and gender equality commitments like CEDAW.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2025). SOURCE Pacific Drinking Water Project Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/sap054-gender-assessment.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. SOURCE Pacific Drinking Water Project Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu. 2025. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/sap054-gender-assessment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=SOURCE Pacific Drinking Water Project Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu |date=3 July 2025 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/sap054-gender-assessment.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2025source, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{SOURCE Pacific Drinking Water Project Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/sap054-gender-assessment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }