The Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development assured that the Malawi government is working hard to address the challenges rocking the water sector in the country. Malawi hosted the SADC national week whose focus is on mainstreaming gender in water issues. The event was held from 13-15 May, 2015 at Crossroads Hotel, Lilongwe. The SADC Water Week, held under the theme “From Vision to Action” was attended by delegates from government ministries, civil society and the private sector.
The International Land Coalition (ILC), Global Water Partnership (GWP) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has brought together land and water professionals, researchers and policy makers to reflect on the linkages between water and land in the emerging geopolitics of food, and to discuss cases from global, regional, basin, national or local levels, where these linkages were successfully addressed in legal frameworks, policy, and/or practice. The workshop is being held in Pretoria from 15 – 16 June 2015.
Eighty representatives from a diversity of water–related sectors participated in an informative meeting, held on 22 May 2015 in La Paz, to learn about the advantages of establishing a Country Water Partnership (CWP) in Bolivia.
The UNESCO Chair of Sustainable Development Management and Education in the Mediterranean at the University of Athens, the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development and the Mediterranean Education Initiative for Environment and Sustainability (MIO-ECSDE/MEdIES) are organizing an online survey, under the political guidance of the Secretariat of the Union of the Mediterranean (UfM) entitled “Mediterranean Youth Responses towards sustainable development and current crisis”.
The survey invites young people (15-35 yrs old) from the Mediterranean countries to share their thoughts about sustainability issues, the current economic and sociopolitical crisis in many parts of the region as well as their vision for the future.
For more information and to fill in the survey, click here.
Madagascar held its SADC Water Week on the 3rd, 4th and 5th June at the Ivato Conference Centre in Antananarivo. This event was held in high esteem given the present context in Madagascar. In fact, it has just been about 17 months since Madagascar was welcomed back in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). On Wednesday the 3rd, a joint session was held for media experts and the youth to provide them with some relevant background information on this SADC initiative. The meeting brought together youth from the water sector and beyond, as well as media experts from various ministries, some NGOs, civil societies and academic institutions.
National consultations towards consolidating Madagascar’s input into the RSAP formulation were held at the Ivato Conference Centre (CCI) on 4th and 5th June in Antananarivo. It saw the attendance of more than 200 various national stakeholders from all water-related sectors in Madagascar. Media experts as well as youth were fully represented.
Mauritius joined the other SADC countries in providing input to the 4th phase of the Regional Water Programme by holding a workshop in the context of the SADC Water Week on 3 and 4th June 2015. The meeting held at Voilà Hotel in Bagatelle was opened by Mr. Ivan Collendavallo, Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, and attended by 60 stakeholders from the water sector, supporting sectors, media and youth.
GWP delegates are taking part in the UNFCCC climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, 1-11 June 2015. The conference is part of the preparations for the up-coming COP21 conference in Paris, France, in December. In Bonn, GWP is organising a side event and a GWP booth with information is available during the second week of the conference.
Márton Czikkely, Tamás Gergely Iványi and Tamás Márkus from Városmajori Grammar School won Hungarian Final of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize on 30 May 2015 with a project "The Secrets of Drinking Water".
His Majesty King Mswati III's government through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy of Swaziland has joined the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in giving contributions to the fourth SADC regional water work programme. This three day event, held under the theme “from vision to Action” is being held from 27-29 May, 2015. The event is being held at Happy Valley in Ezulwini, Swaziland.