The GWP Cameroon hosted in Yaounde, the 8th WACDEP Technical Coordination meeting from the 28-30th September 2016.
Attendees to this regional meeting were the members of WACDEP Coordination Unit, regional and national WACDEP program Managers from the five Regions (GWP Med, GWP SA, GWP EA, GWP WAf and GWP CAf); the GWP-O Head of Program and the GWP-Cameroon Chair who led the GWP-CAf team.
The last technical coordination meeting held in Yaounde over three days had double main objectives. The first objective was to define the approaches for the regions and Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) to better handle the project document preparation process of WACDEP 2 and agree on the timelines of submitting the document to WACDEP Coordination Unit (WACDEP CU) for review. Therefore, two approaches were proposed with regards to the budget constraints: (a) to recruit a consultant for facilitating the process and (b) to constitute a team of experts of the WACDEP Technical Working Group (TWG) to develop the project documentation with a support from the WACDEP CU.
The second one was to agree on the roadmap for drafting the WACDEP (2011-2016) final report to submit it by 15 of October 2016.
As part of the efforts to strengthen the management of the Ghana Country Water Partnership secretariat to develop a strong presence in the water sector, a reference center has been created at the secretariat.
Climate change and the role of water in socio-economic development was the theme of a workshop for journalists organized by GWP Central Africa in Douala, Cameroon, 17-20 December 2012. News reporting, writing techniques and tools for effective storytelling and reporting were also on the agenda for the 21 participants who came from print media and broadcasting.
Around 100 participants, representing 50 different organizations around Nigeria, attended the General Assembly of Partners of the Country Water Partnership of Nigeria held on 14 February 2013. The General Assembly was opened by the Minister of Water Resources Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, also co-Chair of AMCOW for West Africa, who urged GWP Nigeria to strengthen and expand their activities towards achieving adequate management of water resource in the country.
GWP Southern Africa has participated in national and international dialogues focusing on water in the post 2015 development agenda. The dialogues form part of the UN national dialogue (post Rio +20) process which will feed into the development of the UN post 2015 Sustainable Development Goal(s).
Desires to maximise irrigated agriculture during the Soviet era has resulted in degradation of water resources. After independence, most countries in the region adopted national policies dealing with water supply and sanitation. Furthermore, since 2002, Global Water Partnership in Caucasus and Central Asia (GWP CACENA) promotes and supports introduction of IWRM. The main lesson learnt is that an IWRM approach should include any essential infrastructure needed for development.
Providing safe drinking water to poor families is a critical development issue of India. To address the common outbreaks of water borne diseases, the Naandi foundation together with Water Health India initiated the pilot rural Community Safe Water Scheme that combines cost-effective water purification technology with community-driven and performance-based approach. This case illustrates that with awareness raising campaigns, rural households are willing to pay for clean drinking water.