Celebrating women's leadership in WASH during the COVID-19 Pandemic

English
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Celebrating women's leadership in WASH during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Strapline
Women’s leadership in WASHduring the COVID-19 Pandemic
Node read time
5 minutes
Resource type
Case study
Listing introduction text
Stories of women’s leadership and resilience in water, sanitation and hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
Page introduction
Stories of women’s leadership and resilience in water, sanitation and hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
Member
Riva Asia
Location
India
Theme
Gender and social inclusion
RIVA Authors
Author role
Primary Author
RIVA author profile link

Ruchika Shiva

English
Surname
Shiva
Member
Riva Asia
RIVA role
Director
Job description
Director, Global Hub and Asia Hub (Regional Programme)
Featured image
Listing introduction
Ruchika helps close the gap between what government systems promise and what communities actually receive: by building better evidence, strengthening governance, and designing services with the people most likely to be left out.

Ruchika Shiva came to her work through the people that public services most often miss. Before joining Riva, she worked on rights of children in difficult circumstances, including street children in Delhi and ran advocacy campaigns on girls' right to education. That background gave her a conviction that ripples through all of her work: a system that doesn’t reach everyone isn’t finished yet.

Ruchika works with the governments and institutions that deliver essential services – village councils deciding how to allocate and spent water budgets, city utilities trying to reach informal settlements, state governments understanding where money flows through their systems and where it stops. She helps them close the gap between what their systems promise and what communities actually receive: by building better evidence, strengthening governance, and designing services with the people most likely to be left out.

Nineteen years working in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia have given Ruchika a deep understanding of how this region's institutions work – and where they fail. She firmly believes that the first question we should ask is: who is this system designed for? Ruchika’s 2025 paper on gender equity and social inclusion, now a WASH Systems Academy course, has shifted how practitioners across six countries work. She holds an MA in Social Work from Delhi University, is fluent in English and Hindi, and is based in Delhi.


A few highlights

  • 19 years in development; 11 years leading Riva's Asia programme across India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia
  • Systems leadership for water-secure cities – Water4Change programme with city governments in Bhopal, Bhuj and Kozhikode
  • Climate resilience and institutional strengthening in four climate hotspots in Bangladesh, in partnership with BRAC, supported by the Dutch Embassy
  • Lead for gender equity and social inclusion across the FCDO WASH Systems for Health programme in six countries
  • Co-author of the 2025 learning note on GESI-responsive systems strengthening which is also the basis for a WASH Systems Academy course
  • Working languages: English and Hindi
Profile quote
Ruchika Shiva, Director Global Hub and Asia Hub ( regional programme)
First name
Ruchika
Author role
Secondary Author
RIVA author profile link

Shiny Saha

English
Surname
Saha
Member
Riva Asia
RIVA role
Expert
Job description
Programme officer
Featured image
Listing introduction
Shiny's work has shown that when gender equity and social inclusion are built into the DNA of water, sanitation and hygiene systems, reforms not only endure but reshape the way citizens experience governance.

Shiny Saha believes that transformation in public services begins when governments and communities see equity not as an add-on, but as the foundation of lasting systems. Over more than a decade, she has returned to the same question: how do we design structures that make inclusion non-negotiable? Her work has shown that when gender equity and social inclusion are built into the DNA of water, sanitation and hygiene systems, reforms not only endure but reshape the way citizens experience governance.

At Riva, Shiny equips stakeholders with the tools to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene systems in ways that last. She works with government officials, local government representatives, and grassroots organisations to identify bottlenecks, design accountability frameworks, and embed inclusive practices into national and regional strategies. Her focus has been to integrate gender equity into system design, helping institutions move beyond service delivery to create structures that citizens can trust.

Shiny combines deep research expertise with hands-on programme management. She has built capacity for grassroots NGOs, coordinated multi-agency collaborations, authored frameworks for incorporation of Gender Equity and Social Inclusion, and developed approaches to monitor hygiene behaviour. Her distinctive strength lies in bridging the worlds of policy and practice — sparking change while co-creating systems that endure.

Highlights 

  • 15+ years of experience in Asia, with country work in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka
  • Works with governments, civil society, and international partners
  • Coordinates the Agenda for Change India chapter, aligning multiple global organizations
  • Designed frameworks to integrate Gender Equity and Social Inclusion into WASH system strengthening
  • Co-author of the 2025 learning note on GESI-responsive systems strengthening; 2022 Hand Hygiene monitoring framework for India
  • Published on equity, women’s work in the informal economy, governance, and evaluation
  • Holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Completed Term 1 A of a Master’s in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Fluent in English, Hindi, and Bengali
LinkedIn link
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shiny-s-22298511
Profile quote
Shiny Saha
First name
Shiny
External authors
Author role
Primary Author
External author

N Jacob

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
External author/speaker first name
N
External author/speaker surname
Jacob
Publisher
IRC
WaterAid India
India Sanitation Coalition, SuSanA India Chapter, Water For People India
Page sections
content
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected women more than men in several ways, according to studies. They have had to take care of patients while coping with lock-downs that have restricted access to daily necessities and basic services, including water, sanitation and hygiene. At the same time, however, women have shown great strength and leader-ship in managing the uncertainties and challenges unleashed by this crisis. To celebrate the 2021 International Women’s Day theme - #ChooseToChallenge – IRC, Water for People, WaterAid and the SuSanA India Chapter brought together stories of women’s perseverance and initiative. These illustrate how they leveraged WASH to handle the challenges posed by the pandemic. The women are from diverse backgrounds and several states of India. The four organizations conducted a webinar in which the women shared their experiences. Additionally, many others shared their stories that have been included in this compendium. These inspirational stories depict how ordinary women have converted the challenges posed by COVID-19 into an opportunity to promote good hygiene practices. The stories are arranged alphabetically.
Title
Celebrating women's leadership in WASH during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Downloadable documents
Document
Tags
social justice
social inclusion
social inclusion
gender
equity
Metadata Description
This compendium, created for International Women’s Day 2021, features experiences of women who used water, sanitation and hygiene to overcome pandemic challenges across India.
Through webinars and shared accounts, it highlights women’s roles in caregiving, leadership and promoting hygiene during crisis, inspiring action and change.
Year
2021