The Chair of Senegal CWP and three members of the steering committee took part in the various activities related to the celebration of the World Water Day in the countries. The official ceremonies took place in Saint Louis this year. The CWP contributed in finalizing the official communications that were delivered in addition to contributing to the panel discussions. The scientific panel took place on the topic “Water and Employment” and presided by the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation, Mr. Mansour FAYE. Two communications were made on the topic one covering national data and the second one reflecting local situation.
Pr. Abel AFOUDA visited the secretariat from 21 to 26 March 2016. He discussed with the personnel all issues from traditional running ones to project technical and planning issues.
The elaboration of the study on the "Identification of development priorities in the Mékrou transboundary basin" in each country (Benin, Burkina and Niger) with workshops for the restitution and validation has been delayed because of some practical issues. The contracts were signed with some delay with each consultants and some national issues linked to the political and social situation couldn’t allow work to go on correctly.
A regional water youth network was created by participants to the recent Youth for Water Conference organised by GWP Central America, Movimiento de Jóvenes por el Agua (Youth Movement for Water, MOJA) and La Ruta del Clima (The Climate Route) and supported by GWP South America, UNICEF-Nicaragua, Reforestamos Mexico, and IUCN.
Dr. Nicole Bernex is a Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and a Member of the GWP Technical Committee. She has been active in the GWP network for many years, the past ten of them through GWP Peru. When asked to talk about a topic close to her heart, Dr. Bernex chooses a project that GWP has been running successfully in Peru for the past two years, the Santa Eulalia Water, Climate and Development Programme.
The CWP Burkina organized a guided tour on Friday, March 4, 2016 on the pilot project on drip irrigation using solar energy on the site of Ramintenga in the municipality of Loumbila. Representatives of the town hall of Loumbila, the Regional Chamber of Agriculture (CRA) of the Central Plateau, the Regional Directorate in charge of Agriculture, hydraulics, sanitation and Food security (DRAHASA), the Malgb-Zanga Association, the local Water committee of Northern Massili, members of the SIDWAYA group, and CWP-Burkina took part in the tour.
Cooperation between GWP Slovakia and the Eastern Africa region has been in existence for quite some time. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Khartoum in March to outline the next steps of collaboration.
GWPSA facilitated the LIMCOM Technical Task Team Meeting that was held to develop the Limpopo River Basin IWRM Plan 2016-2020. The workshop took place in Johannesburg on the 6th and 7th of April, 2016. The 2016-2020 plan follows the 2011-2015 IWRM LIMCOM Plan that came to an end in 2015 and had adopted a comprehensive approach to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) through three strategic areas, namely: i) Water Governance, ii) Water Management and iii) Water Resources Development. It was against these areas that the new plan would be developed.
Global Water Partnership Southern Africa provided a Technical Assistance support to the Preparation of the Seychelles Integrated and Comprehensive Sanitation Master Plan from the 21st to the 24th March 2016