Women for water

With an aim to create a connected community for women in design; to bring the best of knowledge, ideas, and inspiration at one place; and to spread the work done by women far beyond the fraternity and boundaries of this nation, Vertica Dvivedi came up with a platform named 'WADE ASIA'.

"Since the inception of WADE ASIA four years back, we have been working towards recognising and connecting women from different fields like architecture, design, engineering, art. We motivate such women to do good in their professional life and encourage them in bringing the desired changes in their life as well as the society," says Dvivedi, Founder and Director, WADE ASIA.

"Being immensely indulged in household and family, women generally lack networking or communicating with the outside world. Therefore, we at WADE ASIA aim at providing them a platform where everything is taken care of – they do not have to do anything. All we expect from them is to come and share their ideas and listen to what others have to say. This helps a lot," she adds.

To celebrate such women-led development in various fields, WADE ASIA is organising a two-day event around the theme 'Women, Water, Workmanship'. It will be held on October 11-12, 2019, at NSIC grounds, Okhla, New Delhi.

Talking about the same, Dvivedi states,"As I have mentioned earlier, women are central to WADE. It was created to celebrate and recognise women-led designs and development in Asia. WADE awards are limited to women; however, WADE conference, exhibition, and innovations are open to all. The conference goes on for 16 hours, discussing relevant issues in architecture and design such as 'Lack of infrastructural safety', 'Crisis in Architectural Education', and more. At this critical juncture when the world is reeling with water issues, we couldn't but pick up 'Water' as a key theme for WADE ASIA 2019 to spread awareness about preservation, conservation, and restoration of water. WADE ASIA is an event dedicated to promote true talents and craftsmanship, thus 'Workmanship' will be focussed through WADE workshops, WADE Design Galore, and much more."

Besides Panel sessions, Fire-side Chat, Stand-up Comedy, Story-telling sessions, Workshops will be held.

Under another initiative #WomanWater Warriors by WADE Foundation, hundreds of women will be coming together to set a record by forming the largest human 'W'.

'Woman Water Warriors' is a pledge to be a messenger of water literacy and to significantly contribute in raising awareness on using water efficiently, reviving water bodies, conserving and rainwater harvesting.

All the participants will be given a certificate from Asia Book of Records, special medals will be presented by WADE foundation and this record breaking initiative will take place at 8 am, October 12.

"Most of the women coming to Wade Asia are changemakers themselves. They are the ones building India. So if they can take over such a tedious and effortful task of building India, then why not participate in resolving the most important issue which the world is facing – water."

"Moreover, women are more sensitive to a crisis, conservation, and therefore, water is something that women should work on," she further says.

The idea for this event came from 700 rural women of Bundelkhand working for water conservation. "Their journey from being water-scarce to water sufficient is incredible. They have achieved what they wanted to, and that too without any help."

"So, if women from comparatively underdeveloped regions of the country can do it without any resources, then why not urban women start something and bring a change," she wonders.