L@ Chronique May 2015

The sixth statutory meeting of the Assembly of Partners of Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) was held on 7 and 8 May 2015 in Cotonou, Benin. The theme of the meeting was " The challenge of the post-2015 Development Agenda in Africa: what role for Partnerships in the context of Climate Change?'. Organized by the GWP Regional Secretariat in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, petroleum exploration, mining, water and renewable energy, and the Country Water Partnership of Benin, it was under the patronage of the Minister.

An onsite meeting was attended by the main actors involved in the implementation of the demonstration project in order to assess the progress.
As of April 29, 2015, IRRIFASO has completed the installation of drip irrigation system. They also tested the system with the existing pump on site. The conclusion is that the system is operating normally, the pressure achieved was 0.3 bar considered to be sufficient for such a system.

Burkina CWP has initiated a series of meetings with some foreign embassies in Ouagadougou. Thus, a delegation met with the Ambassador of Morocco in Ouagadougou, Mr. FARHAT BUAZZA on April 20, 2015 for a courtesy visit to present the CWP and its portfolio of projects for a possible collaboration. The Ambassador welcomed the visit and thanked the Chair and his team.
The delegation met on April 23, the Ambassador of South Africa, HE Mr. Gangumzi TSENGIWE, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium in Burkina Faso, Mr Philip HEUTS.

Two missions of the secretariat were undertaken in Niger and Burkina to follow up on the recommendations of the audit report for 2014 and to see how ta carry out projects both wth the Dori and Tera municipalitie in Burkina and Niger.

The finance and Mekrou project managers went in Niamey on 12 and 16 April 2015 to work with the Niger CWP and host institution Eau Vive on the recommendations contained in the 2014 audit report on the implementation of the Mekrou project in Niger.

The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) supported Mr. Yussif Rahmani (one of the participants in the Media training workshop held in September, 2014) from Quality FM in the Garu Tempane District to host a talk show in the Tampizua I community in the Kusaal language. This was a follow-up to an earlier show held in December 2014 in English at the premises of the radio station where it was recommended to organise one in the local dialect to disseminate widely the information to peasant farmers.

Benin CWP has coordinated the setting up of the national National Youth Parliament for Water and Sanitation (PNJEA) of Benin with the aim of involving Youth more in the issues around water and sanitation through education, facilitation and sensitization. The Parliament will work for a greater involvement of Beninese youth in the issues of Water Resources Management Integrated; educate the youth on water-related issues and sanitation; facilitate good cooperation between youth and policy makers in the strategic decision making (water sectors, sanitation, energy, food security and biodiversity).

The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana), as a way forward to the Media Training which was held in September last year, supported the Ghana WatSan Journalists Network (GWJN) to carry out a three day field activity in order to determine access to water in some areas of Accra.  The exercise was held from 19th to 21st March, 2015.

The purpose for the activity was to ascertain the extent of access to water and sanitation services in some communities in Accra. In all, there were 18 participants in the exercise from, Wash Times, Xinhua News Agency, The Accra Times, Today Newspaper, Daily Guide, Daily Graphic, Weekend Sun, Metro TV, Starr FM, The General Telegraph and Ghanaian Times.

The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana), in collaboration with the Federation of Environmental Journalists (FEJ) of Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and the Ghana WASH Journalists Network (GWJN) organised a Symposium on Environmental Reporting. The symposium was held on 22nd April, 2015 at GIJ Seminar Room. In attendance were members of FEJ, the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), WACDEP National Training Coordinator, GWJN executives, students and a member of the photography faculty of GIJ. In all, there were seventy four (74) participants at the symposium.

The 7^th World Water Forum was held from April 12 to 17, 2015 in South Korea. This event, which is now included in to the global sustainable development agenda has brought together thousands of participants from all continents of the world. Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) was represented by the WACDEP program Manager Mahamoudou TIEMTORE and Mrs. Felicite CHABI-GONNI Epse VODOUNHESSI IDMP Project Officer.

From 19 to 20 March 2015, the Country Water Partnership of Benin organized a national workshop on the ownership of the guidelines for the development of large hydraulic infrastructures in West Africa.
This workshop follows the regional one held on 17 and 18 November 2014 in Lomé, Togo. About thirty stakeholders involved in the process of conducting water works namely the public structures, NGOs, consumers, municipalities, research institutions, etc. took part in the meeting.