The sixth statutory meeting of the Assembly of Partners of Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) was held on 7 and 8 May 2015 in Cotonou, Benin. The theme of the meeting was " The challenge of the post-2015 Development Agenda in Africa: what role for Partnerships in the context of Climate Change?'. Organized by the GWP Regional Secretariat in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, petroleum exploration, mining, water and renewable energy, and the Country Water Partnership of Benin, it was under the patronage of the Minister.
An onsite meeting was attended by the main actors involved in the implementation of the demonstration project in order to assess the progress.
As of April 29, 2015, IRRIFASO has completed the installation of drip irrigation system. They also tested the system with the existing pump on site. The conclusion is that the system is operating normally, the pressure achieved was 0.3 bar considered to be sufficient for such a system.
The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) supported Mr. Yussif Rahmani (one of the participants in the Media training workshop held in September, 2014) from Quality FM in the Garu Tempane District to host a talk show in the Tampizua I community in the Kusaal language. This was a follow-up to an earlier show held in December 2014 in English at the premises of the radio station where it was recommended to organise one in the local dialect to disseminate widely the information to peasant farmers.
The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana), as a way forward to the Media Training which was held in September last year, supported the Ghana WatSan Journalists Network (GWJN) to carry out a three day field activity in order to determine access to water in some areas of Accra. The exercise was held from 19th to 21st March, 2015.
The purpose for the activity was to ascertain the extent of access to water and sanitation services in some communities in Accra. In all, there were 18 participants in the exercise from, Wash Times, Xinhua News Agency, The Accra Times, Today Newspaper, Daily Guide, Daily Graphic, Weekend Sun, Metro TV, Starr FM, The General Telegraph and Ghanaian Times.
The 7th World Water Forum was held from April 12 to 17, 2015 in South Korea. This event, which is now included in to the global sustainable development agenda has brought together thousands of participants from all continents of the world. Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) was represented by the WACDEP program Manager Mahamoudou TIEMTORE and Mrs. Felicite CHABI-GONNI Epse VODOUNHESSI IDMP Project Officer.
Margaret Catley Carlson who was the Chair and the Patron of GWP visited GWP China Secretariat and its Host Institute, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR) on May 16, 2015, in Beijing.
On May 15, 2015, Angela Klauschen, Senior Network Officer of GWPO visited GWP China Regional Secretariat in Beijing.
With global change projections pointing to increasing water scarcity and drought in the Mediterranean, which are bound to cause significant environmental and socio-economic impacts, the development of a new management approach for water basins by integrating scientific thinking with sociological considerations seems essential.