The Chair of GWP West Africa, Prof. Abel AFOUDA accompanied by the Regional Coordinator and Communication took part in the GWP regional days 2015 in Stockholm from 22 to 25 November. This meeting was an opportunity to review the progress made by the global network in its fields of action and to make projections into the future. GWP and several partners express satisfaction since their efforts to have a water dedicated sustainable development goal come true. Discussions are underway to better position the network of partners in supporting countries to be successful in the implementation of the SDGs as a whole but especially the goal 6 with its different targets. Discussions at the regional days gathered ideas for a better positioning of GWP.
The Mékrou Project Manager who took part to the Extraordinary Summit of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) held in Bamako from 2 to 5 November 2015 as part of the validation of the Project Implementation Committee, to exchange with the executives of the NBA and the various 9 countries delegations, members of the NBA on the modalities for the management of the official ceremony by the Ministers of the NBA.
The Integrated Drought Management Project in West Africa (IDMP-WA) made its internal assessment of the first year of project implementation and discussed the existing national plans during a meeting.
The meeting, held in Ouagadougou from 8 to 10 December 2015 was an opportunity to discuss the main actions undertaken during the first year of implementation of the project. Among these actions the review in detail of the initiatives / institutions in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and at regional level, starting the establishment of national and regional platforms of exchanges on integrated drought management, the development by CWP and their partners of demonstration project documents, the identification of training needs for stakeholders and also the preliminary exchanges with the ECOWAS/WRCC to advocate for the development of regional guidelines ondrought.
GWP held a press briefing at the UNFCCC COP20 conference in Lima, Peru, on Tuesday 9 December. The delegates reiterated the GWP network’s firm support of a dedicated water goal on the post-2015 development agenda. The Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) was highlighted as an important tool to combat water related problems in connection with climate change.
Two missions of the secretariat were undertaken in Niger and Burkina to follow up on the recommendations of the audit report for 2014 and to see how ta carry out projects both wth the Dori and Tera municipalitie in Burkina and Niger.
The finance and Mekrou project managers went in Niamey on 12 and 16 April 2015 to work with the Niger CWP and host institution Eau Vive on the recommendations contained in the 2014 audit report on the implementation of the Mekrou project in Niger.
As part of the implementation of Mekrou project, and in order to lay the foundations for proper planning, a socio-economic survey will be carried out on households in the basin area in the 3 countries. An initial technical information and training workshop of country coordinators of these investigations was held in Cotonou from 18 to 20 November 2015.
After the Municipal / Communal and Local elections which took place in Benin leading to the renewal of decision-making bodies at municipal level, the CWP Benin has initiated a training session on the advocacy techniques for local water stakeholders. The participants included members of the National Association of Users of the national portion of the Niger Basin (UNA-Benin, the Consultation Framework of non-state actors in the water sector and sanitation (Canea), the Local Water Partnerships (PLE) of Mono and Couffo, the Consumers Associations of Drinking Water (CAPE) and the social intermediation NGOs
Some members of the Francophone youth for water initiative took part in the 14th edition of the international youth work camp from 23 July to 3 August 2015 in Burkina Faso. The theme of the camp was "youth leadership and responsible citizenship." In this context, the WYPW- Africa was represented by 15 young participants from neighboring countries (Benin, Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast and Togo) and a similar number of young people living in Burkina Faso with the support of the NGO Eau Vive.
The regional workshop of the Consultative Committee of the Global Cooperation Mechanism for the Mékrou Project for the validation of the reports of various baseline studies conducted in 2014 and 2015 and to agree on the broad guidelines for the implementation of activities for the next year was held on 14, 15 and 16 July 2015 in Cotonou, Benin.
