With the guidance materials finalized and the website operational, UNICEF and GWP facilitated a webinar to introduce the full scope of the work. José Gesti Canuto, Water and Environment Specialist with UNICEF, said that the materials developed are a direct response to requests coming from the field.
The Technical Briefs and Learning Modules, published in 2017, build a knowledge base for capacity building to support the implementation of the Framework at national, sub-national, basin, and local level. Good progress has been made on the development of new agreements at both the regional and country level.
At the regional level, the methodology developed for risk assessment was piloted in 11 countries of West and Central Africa, and the results were shared and discussed at a workshop in Dakar, Senegal, in September. Around 40 participants mapped the main climate-related risks to WASH and built a roadmap for action per country, considering the country landscape in terms of ongoing activities, existing climate-related risks to WASH, funding opportunities, and key partners and initiatives.
At country level, a fruitful example is the initiative currently carried out by GWP Cameroon and UNICEF Cameroon on improving the resilience of WASH services in the Mayo Tsanaga catchment through pilot initiatives in schools and health centres. This catchment is located in the Sahel, a region highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. So far, important work has been initiated in targeting the excess fluoride in groundwater, a problem impacting the communities, in particular children living in the area.
Photo: Field visit to project in Cameroon