The 1st Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector was organised on 28-30 October 2014, in Athens, Greece, by the Global Water Partnership- Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the EU funded Sustainable Water Integrated Management-Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM) project. It convened more than 110 decision makers; representatives of government; civil society; the private sector; international organisations; donors and financing institutions.

The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP SA) and the Resilience in the Limpopo Project (RESILIM – a USAID funded project) are working on behalf of the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) to review and update into an Action plan - ‘the Limpopo Basin Strategic Plan for reducing vulnerability to floods and droughts’. This review is part of the assistance being given to the LIMCOM in order for it to develop a Disaster Risk Reduction Action Plan.

Based on country studies on Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (LIKSP) and how they contribute to enhancing climate resilience in each of the 14 countries in the SADC region, Qandelihle Simelane (regional consultant of LIKSP studies) gave a regional summation from country studies undertaken in the region during the 6^th SADC River Basin Organisations (RBOs) Workshop held from the 15^th to the 17^th of October 2014 at Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa under the theme “Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Resilience in Water Related Disasters.”

The national Report entitled “Water Governance in Jordan: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” was launched during the Third Workshop of the Water Policy Dialogue in Jordan and in the presence of H.E. Basem Telfah, Secretary General of the Ministry for Water and Irrigation, as well as a wide range of stakeholders, including authorities, utilities, donors, civil society and private sector, in Amman, on 4 June 2014.

The national Water Policy Dialogue, having engaged more than 100 Tunisian stakeholders within the past year (2013-2014), concluded with the launch of the National Report “Water Governance in Tunisia: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” held on 9 June 2014, in Tunis. The Report is the outcome of the multi-stakeholder Policy Dialogue and includes a diagnostic analysis of the key governance bottlenecks to private sector participation (PSP) in water supply and sanitation services as well as concrete policy recommendations for overcoming them.

GWP has been requested by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) to support the preparations for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan. With inputs from its partners, GWP led the development of a brief on Water and Disaster Risk.

The National Consultation Dialogues (NCDs) are organised within the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP), which is undertaken by the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Region of the Global Water Partnership (GWP). 

On the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, GWP Central and Eastern Europe launches an international photo contest on 17 June.

The GWP/WMO Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) released a new publication on National Drought Management Policy Guidelines: A Template for Action.

The Second workshop of the Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe was held on 8-9 April in Ljubljana, Slovenia.