Every 22 March, the world celebrates World Water Day with this year theme focus on “Accelerating Change to Solve Water and Sanitation Crisis”. Since water affects us all, we have to response with immediate action, as access to clean and safe water and basic sanitation consider human rights, yet large part of the world population still does not have access to it.
World Water Day will be commemorated on March 22nd, as it has been since 1993. The day is dedicated to emphasize the value of freshwater. UN-Water is leading a campaign to make groundwater visible in 2022. Although groundwater may be out of sight, its impact is visible everywhere.
The Caribbean Science Symposium on Water by the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C), takes place virtually on March 23rd – 25th, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time (AST) on each day. The theme of the event is “Building Resilience in the Regional Water Sector to Address Climatological and Hydrological Risks and Threats.”
We are inviting all GWP CEE Partners to the Annual Network Meeting of GWP Partners 2020, which takes place online on 21-22 October, under the theme ‘Bringing the Change’. As part of the Network Meeting, the Partners have the opportunity to comment on the GWP in Action 2019 Annual Report and the GWP Annual Financial Report 2019.
GWP co-designed a 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 2-part series, which concluded on 9 July, highlighted the need for innovative water solutions to support agricultural production systems in a changing climate. FLI development has gained increased attention as one of the solutions to build climate resilience for smallholder farmers. GWP is involved with stakeholders in several countries on FLI initiatives.
In July, a 3-part webinar series was held on “Coordinating, Implementing, and Financing National Climate and Water Policy Frameworks”. The series was developed by GWP and Cap-Net, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), and the Water Governance Facility. The sessions highlighted climate and water linkages in national frameworks such as the National Determined Contributions (NDCs), the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and various investment mechanisms.
Next up in our series of partners speaking about why their communities should submit their change journeys to the Water ChangeMaker Awards, we have two youth organisations. In an energetic and interactive Facebook Live, we spoke with Lindsey Aldaco-Manner, President of the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW), as well as Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata, Coordinator of the Water Governance Group at the Water Youth Network (WYN).
GWP and Wuhan International Water Law Academy are co-organising an interactive online series called the "Transboundary freshwater security governance train". The sessions are conducted in an approach of a ‘train’ stopping at various locations in the world. At each of the stops, a different topic from the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security is explored. On 16 March, the 3rd session looks at river basin organisations and the implementation of legal commitments.
The Cameroon Country Water Partnership (GWP-Cmr) organized a regional workshop in Douala from December 14th -15th, 2021 to mobilize partners at the national and transboundary level, notably the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) for the prevention of dental fluorosis in the Lake Chad Basin area.