The seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes took place on 17-21 November 2015 in Budapest, Hungary. GWP was represented with participants from several countries.
Several processes that place water at the center of the development are underway worldwide (IWRM, MDGs, SDGs ...).
At the level of West Africa, ECOWAS as the main political body for development, has undertaken, among other actions, the creation of the Permanent Framework for Coordination and Monitoring (PFCM), and the development of the Regional Water Policy in West Africa (PREAO).
The Water, climate and development programme Lao PDR aims to develop stakeholder analysis and roadmap for capacity development on water security and climate resilience. Series of consultation meetings were conducted from June to September 2014 to gather inputs from stakeholders at national, province and river basin level.
In total 404 people from 55 institutions were involved in the meetings including public, private sector, academia and provinces throughout the country. The main finding from the series of consultations is that the knowledge of local communities in river basin about climate change is still limited. However, most stakeholders consider climate change as a challenge to find appropriate solutions for. Based on the findings, the Lao Water Partnership drafted a National Capacity Building Plan on Water Security for Climate Change Adaptation and Management.
Some 40 key stakeholders from the government; private companies and banks; research institutes and Academia; media as well as the Civil Society discussed and contributed to the final draft of the Report ‘Governance in Palestine: Sector Reform to include Private Sector Participation’, during the Third Consultation Workshop of the Palestinian Water Policy Dialogue. The workshop was organised by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), within the Union for the Mediterranean project Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector and under the patronage of H.E. Mazen Ghuneim, Chairman of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), in Ramallah, on 16 June 2015.
Given the importance of WRCC in coordinating water resource management in West Africa in particular and that of ECOWAS generally politically and economically, and because of the many joint initiatives underway, GWP / WA met with the Director of WRCC, Ibrahim Babatunde WILSON. The GWP delegation led by its Chair, Prof. Afouda, included the Executive Secretary and the Mekrou and IDMP projects officers.
The two organizations raised a number of initiatives underway at GWP / WA of which WRCC is an integral part, including the Mekrou project, IDMP, or those in which the WRCC should take the lead like the initiative on the regional dialogue on the joint management of shared aquifers in West Africa.
19 to 22 April 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Below normal rainfall is most likely during the 2015 southwest monsoon season (June – September) over South Asia as a whole. Below-normal rainfall is likely over broad areas of western, central and south western parts of South Asia and some areas in the north eastern-most parts of the region. It is noteworthy that except southern part of islands of the region no other part of South Asia has above-normal rainfall as the most likely category.
Water Resources Commission of Ghana and Ghana Country Water Partnhip (GWP Ghana) organize on 10 November 2015 a one day meeting in Bolgatenga (Northern Ghana) to validate a two parts study in preparation of the White Volta Basin (WVB) investment Plan. The report updates IWRM plan for the WVB and provides the framework for identifying water resources management and related challenges in the basin. It highlights the socioeconomic trends, population dynamics and the general water resources conditions in the basin.
Following the information day on the Francophone youth for water project in Korea on April 13, 2015 and the orientation day in Cotonou on May 8, actions are continuing with the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW). Each of the youth developed roadmap activities to be undertaken for the implementation of this "Francophone Youth for Water" initiative at country level.
The 2nd Regional Alumni Workshop of the ‘Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region’ was organised by GWP-Med (8-11 February 2016, Dead Sea, Jordan). Regional alumni workshops aim to lead to the creation of a regional community of practice on water integrity and foster water integrity ambassadors, reinforcing the enabling environment and building synergies in the target countries and the MENA Region at large. The first Regional Alumni Workshop (November 2015, Tunis, Tunisia) targeted alumni from the national civil society workshops, whereas this second one targeted operational/mid-level management staff.
GWP has sponsorship available for eligible participants to complete the online course in Integrated and Adaptive Water Resources Planning, Management and Governance offered by McGill University’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.