This year's topic of the Danube Water Conference, held on 20-21 May 2019 was “Achieving resilience in water and wastewater utilities in the Danube region”.
The Executive Secretary of Ghana Country Water Partnership participated from 6th to 9th May 2019, in the meeting of the Technical Committee of Experts of the Volta Basin Authority at Coconut Grove Hotel in Accra, Ghana. About forty (40) participants were present, drawn from the six (6) riparian States of the basin, notably the focal points of the VBA in the countries and technical and financial partners including the IUCN, GWP-WA, UEMOA, and Water Integrity Network (WIN). Also, technical structures from Ghana participated in the meeting.
GWP WA is collaborating with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to support the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) to integrate flood and drought management and develop early warning for its climate change adaptation measures.
Several partners among which the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate of Zimbabwe and the Municipality of Marondera have come together to help Zimbabwe develop an Integrated Water and Wastewater Master Plan that will, in part, present detailed prioritized investments for the municipality of Marondera, financed by the African Water Facility. This project will also build the capacity of the key sector players, which will in the long term foster an integrated approach in managing the water and sanitation facilities in the country.
In 2014, GWP and UNICEF established a strategic partnership to work on climate resilience and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). The collaboration resulted in a Strategic Framework and a range of technical briefs and guidance notes to support the implementation of the Framework. In February 2018, a website was launched with the knowledge products. Since then, they have become among the most downloaded publications with GWP involvement. To mark World Toilet Day 2019 (19 November), which has a strong link to WASH, GWP followed up on the use of the material.
The DANUBE FLOODPLAIN Project (Reducing the flood risk through floodplain restoration along the Danube River and tributaries) had its official “Kick-Off Meeting and First Stakeholder Event” on September 27-28, 2018 at the Capital Plaza Hotel, in Bucharest, Romania.
