In our series of inter-regional discussions on gender equality and social inclusion, GWP’s Liza Debevec invited GWP South Asia’s Lal Induruwage, and Ashish Barua of the Swiss development organisation Helvetas, to talk about meaningful and inclusive participation in decision-making and partnerships. This is something both their countries – Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – have made great progress on in policies. However, they both agree that gaps still exist between policies and reality on the ground. One of the big challenges is lack of accountability.
A workshop “Gender dimensions in the sustainable management of natural resources through a Nexus approach in the Drina River Basin” was held online on June 23 2021. Approximately 80 stakeholders from Ministries, local NGOs, Nexus related institutions and agencies and academia from the Drina River Basin joined the workshop that focused on the interplay between sustainable management of natural resources and gender in the three countries of the region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia.
On March 8th every year, the world celebrates the International Women's Day - a global day highlighting the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is also a day to mark the call to action for accelerating gender parity and raise awareness about women's rights.
GWP and Wuhan International Water Law Academy are co-organisers of a 6-part series called the "Transboundary Freshwater Security Governance Train." The second session took place on 16 February on “Ecosystems, International Law, and Transboundary Water Cooperation”. The event gathered over 100 participants, led by a panel of international experts who agreed that ecosystems protection has been gaining increased political acceptance and technical understanding in recent years.
GWP celebrates 25 years in 2021, and we are introducing the anniversary website gwp25years.org. The launch took place in connection to the GWP Regional Days (31 May-3 June), an annual gathering of GWP’s staff worldwide. The new website is a place to capture the collective celebration of what the network has achieved so far, and to look to the future. It is a place where everyone is invited to share messages and where they can be part of the journey to make good water governance a reality for everyone.
The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on transboundary freshwater security opened in August 2020. A year on, the MOOC has attracted over 2,300 participants from 150 countries, and the course is confirmed for another year on the same platform – with more language versions in the making to reach an even greater audience, and with more interactive events to engage participants. Chinese video subtitles are already available, and several other translations are under preparation.
Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2021 takes place as a fully virtual event from 21 June to 2 July. The biennial event connects stakeholders from the global value chain in the water industry to share best practices, policy developments in water and showcase the latest in technological innovations and tap business opportunities.
