The Ministers in charge of water of the Member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) met on April 6, 2012, in Bangui, to discuss options for the establishment of a regional Water Resources Management Coordination Centre. One of the recommendations of the meeting was that the ECCAS General Secretariat, working together with GWP Central Africa and the Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC), finalizes the strategic documents for water financing in Central Africa and submits them for adoption by ECCAS Members States.
Within the framework of the Water, Climate and Development Programme, GWP South America is guiding a pilot initiative to put in practice transectoral cooperation to generate resilience to climate change and water security in the Santa Eulalia sub-basin in Peru.
The importance of mountains for the provision of water was emphasized at the Rio+20 Side Event "Mountain Knowledge Solutions for Sustainable Green Economy and Improved Water, Food, Energy, and Environment Nexus" on 18 June 2012, in which the GWP Executive Secretary participated.
In Southern Africa, two countries (Tanzania and Zambia) have been selected for the implementation of the SDG Water Preparedness Facility (SDG Water PF). This selection follows the endorsement of Water as one of the 17 goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015 at the UN General Assembly, GWP is developing the SDG Water Preparedness Facility (SDG Water PF), which is designed to deepen and streamline the vision of water security.
To commemorate GWP’s 20th anniversary, a 2-minute video has been produced explaining – without words – the challenges of the world’s water crises and GWP’s answer: join our network so that all stakeholders can work in partnership to secure water for sustainable development.
The water sector in South Africa is dynamic and facing major challenges such as reduction in capacity of the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) to engage as extensively with stakeholders. As a result of a weak partnership base, it has been difficult to ensure the implementation of equitable and sustainable IWRM. Although a South African Country Water Partnership (SA CWP) was launched in 2002, and was active in early GWP activities such as the Framework for Action (FFA) over the years the sense of purpose for a partnership among water actors diminished as the water sector changed it’s strategic dimensions. One of the challenges that the SA CWP of the Global Water Partnership faced was defining exactly what its role in South Africa would be and how it would partner with other Water sector stakeholders to ensure that it executes its tasks and achieves success.
Following on the series of successful regional workshops on Water Financing carried out in 2009 and 2010 by GWP and the EUWI in South America, the international seminar, "Water and Environmental Sanitation Financing" was held in Porto Alegre on June 11, organized by GWP Brazil in partnership with ABES-RS, the Brazilian Association for Sanitation and Environmental Engineering. Its aim was to identify and promote ways of funding water resources management.
GWP Eastern Africa used a recent conference to showcase GWP's philosophy, its current drive to mobilise collective efforts towards climate change adaptation and the role youth can play in lessening the effects of climate change in Eastern Africa.
The Lake Victoria Basin is facing major ecological challenges stemming from unsustainable agriculture practices and deforestation, impacting the livelihoods of the local communities. Actions have been taken, including an action plan for management of the basin and the establishment of Lake Victoria Basin Commission, responsible for management initiatives. This case study provides insights into the link between policy formulation and implementation and enforcement. Especially, it demonstrates the importance of rooting the policies within the local communities.