On Wednesday, 5 April 2023, His Excellency Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, formally received the Global Water Changemakers Award which had been presented to him in absentia during the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York.
Four co-chairs of the International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa; H.E Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and Chair of the African Union, H.E Hage Geingob, President of Namibia, H.E Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands and H.E Jakaya Kikwete, Former President of the Republic of Tanzania have each received the Presidential Global Changemakers Award for demonstrating high level political commitment and leadership for climate resilient water security in Africa.
Four Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States have commended the SADC Secretariat for taking the lead in the fight against communicable diseases, including COVID-19 and cholera, through the installation of handwashing facilities at border crossings.
The Global Water Leadership in a Changing Climate programme (GWL) has held multi-stakeholder consultations in seven countries identifying the most critical barriers to climate-resilient water management. Working groups have now been formed to investigate these barriers and develop responses, beginning with a ‘root cause analysis’. Updates from three countries follow.
The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) and Global Water Partnership Africa have renewed their partnership to transform water investments in Africa.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat has installed portable handwashing facilities at the Beitbridge border post on the Zimbabwean side of its border with South Africa, at Chirundu Border Post between Zimbabwe and Zambia, at Nakonde/Tunduma one stop border post between Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania, and at Songwe/Kasumulu border crossing between Malawi and Tanzania.
Global Water Partnership and the Government of Tanzania are working on strategies that will improve the country’s management of water resources, with the aim of increasing water security and improving the economy.
For the past 10 months, Malawi has been battling a cholera outbreak which health authorities have classified as the worst in decades. The outbreak has so far claimed over a thousand lives and recorded over 25,000 cases as of January 2023, with the case fatality rate standing at 3.3% as opposed to the less than 1% recommended by the World Health Organization.
/ Caribbean, Central America, Global, South America, Southern Africa
Can the UN 2023 Water Conference help us to re-think how we value water and accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals?
