Promoting the IWRM approach means first making those involved in water management aware of IWRM principles, how they can be applied in their context and the main benefits of doing so.
GWP Bulgaria is helping local groups see how they fit into broader regional perspectives such as the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).
In April, GWP Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and GWP Hungary organised a workshop that brought Baltic Region Strategy experiences to the newly formed Danube Region Strategy. The workshop, Parallels: Water Resources Management Aspects of European Union Strategies for Baltic Sea and Danube Regions, held in April 2011, built on previous GWP work on strategy development and focused on new financing mechanisms for macro-regional economic development.
At a roundtable organised by GWP Armenia in June 2011, aimed at drawing attention to the problems of transboundary river basins, participants agreed to work towards the establishment of an independent Aghstev River basin council to implement an integrated basin plan. Issues facing the basin include legal frameworks, deforestation and water quality. The meeting took place in Dilijan City on the banks of the transboundary Aghstev River, a tributary of the Kura-Araks (also a transboundary river).
GWP Eastern Africa (GWP-EA), in collaboration with AMCOW and with funding from the AfDB, ran a survey of 12 countries to assess the state of IWRM planning and implementation.
During 2008, GWP Mediterranean (GWP-Med) helped Egypt and Lebanon with their water supply and sanitation (WSS) and IWRM planning respectively. The assistance was provided within the framework of the Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative (MED EUWI), through country dialogues on water, and with support of the MEDA Water Programme of the European Commission and Greece that leads MED EUWI.
In January 2008, GWP-CEE – together with Women in Europe for a Common Future, the European Water Partnership, KIWA Water Research, Coalition Clean Baltic, and Coram Industries – organised a high-level policy dialogue on EU Sanitation Policies and Practices in the 2008 International Year of Sanitation in Brussels, Belgium.
When GWP-C and the NGO group Haiti Survie hosted the first IWRM workshop in September 2007, they were surprised to discover no women among its 30 participants.