IHE Delft has held the 6th edition of the International Symposium on Knowledge and Capacity Development for the Water Sector. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the symposium – “From Capacity Development to Implementation Science” – was held online on 26-29 May, with around 500 participants from around the world. GWP is a Partner of the Symposium and hosted a session on ‘Reaching and engaging local communities.’ Recommendations from all sessions were fed into the Delft Agenda, finalised at the end of June and launched on 20 July.
GWP is contributing to the development of a 2-part webinar series on farmer-led irrigation (FLI), in partnership with the World Bank, the International Water Management Institute, and the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. The first webinar is on 11 June, on the topic "Accelerating Inclusive FLI and Reaching Scale: Key Considerations".
The Global Water Partnership Mediterranean GEF/UNDP/GWP-Med project 'Enabling transboundary cooperation and integrated water resources management in the extended Drin River Basin' (GEF Drin Project) endeavors to raise public awareness on natural wealth and cultural heritage of the Drin River Basin through the celebration of Drin Day 2020.
After almost five years since the initiation of the administrative process to change its legal status, Country Water Partnership, Cameroon (GWP-Cmr) is now an NGO following a Ministerial Decree n° 00000005 of April 1st 2020. This change in status brings along a number of advantages the possibility to seek direct funding from government ministries and related organizations in order to advance its mission of ensuring water security in Cameroon. In an interview with the Chair of GWP-Cmr, Mr. Mamoudou Ousman talks about GWP- Cmr, what prompted the need for a legal status change, benefits and challenges, and shares lessons learnt with other Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) in the GWP-CAF network looking to change their legal status.
GWP and the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) collaborate on a storytelling initiative to make the voices of youth heard on water. Reflecting on the current challenging times, with the world battling a health crisis, we asked youth how the COVID-19 outbreak has changed their daily routines in different parts of the world. This is the second instalment in the series.
To strengthen journalists understanding of water security and climate resilience for effective communication with stakeholders, the Central Africa Republic Country Water Partnership (PNE-RCA), with the technical and financial support of the GWP Central Africa (GWP-CAF) and UNICEF, organized a two day capacity building workshop for media professionals in Bangui in December 2019. The participants at the workshop expressed their gratitude for the initiative and committed to contribute to the sensitization of stakeholders on water security and climate resilience. They also made a series of recommendations to key stakeholders, on enhancing water security and climate resilience. Steps have since been taken by PNE-RCA to implement the recommendations made towards the establishment of a network of water and climate journalists, and plans have been made to sustain it through subsequent capacity building workshops.
GWP, GEF IW:Learn and partners are launching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on “Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security” at the end of August 2020. The tentative start date is 31 August. The timing coincides with the start of the school year – giving educators the opportunity to build the MOOC into their curricula. One of the MOOC lecturers is Dr Jackie King, who shares a video message on why the MOOC is more relevant than ever. She says that “we are learning the hard way that everything is connected.”
