Search

Three-day AWC First General Assembly-Summary Report
Reported by HE Mr. Watt Botkosal
Regional Chair, GWPSEA on 30 March 2016

 

 

The 1^st Asia Water Council General Assembly was hosted and Co-organized by Ministry of Public Works and Housing and AWC Secretariat on 24-26 March 2016, Nusa Dua Beach Hotel and Spa, Bali, Indonesia. The AWC was established by 15 Founders of Countries and international Agencies since the 7^th World Water Week in Korea. The AWC aims to raise global awareness of Asia’s water problems and promote the sustainable development of Asia by resolving regional water issues. The General Assembly aimed to discuss the AWC Constitution and the operation plan for the AWC and to share the commitments from Founders. The General Assembly was attended by about 200 participants from about 50 organizations including Minister, Vice-Minister, Directors General, Directors, Chairpersons, AWC Secretariat, national and international organizations from Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia such as UNESCO-IHP, FAO, and ADB (Asian Development Bank), KOICA,  Representative of GWP SEA, Country Water Partnership of Indonesia, national agencies etc. 

 

The IDMP project manager together with CWP Burkina and some GWP WA staff have visited the pilot project site wher innovating practices of resilience to drought are promoted in Komki Ipala. The visitors were much satisfied with results achieved by the pilot project which initiated various techniques of restoration of degraded lands to produce grass for animal feeding through natural assisted regeneration. These technics are mastered by the populations involved in the project. To show their mastery they are testing a long time abandoned land to grow some crops.

On July 1, 2016, Dr. Oyun Sanjaasuren assumes the role of new Chair of the Global Water Partnership (GWP): "I think those who set up GWP 20 years ago - the people, organisations, governments - were very visionary and had good foresight. It is only more recently that water and water governance gained wider understanding and support”. Dr. Oyun says that now is a crucial time for GWP to influence the global development agenda. 

"Water is key to all aspects of development."

GWP-Med, along with partner organisation Lions' Club, is coordinating a national campaign in Tunisian primary schools for awareness raising with regards to water scarcity and the importance of water saving, during the month of February. The campaign is called ÔVI (eau=vie / water=life) and is taking place within the framework of the activity "La Jeunesse Francophone pour l'eau" [Francophone Youth for Water], jointly held by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the Office Franco-Québécois pour la Jeunesse (OFQJ), as well as the BeWater Project and the work it does on raising the Tunisian youth's voice on water resources management.

There is a challenge in convincing national and international leaders of the water sectors vulnerability to climate change.

The official launch to restore the head source of the Mekrou basin was done on 20 June 2017 by the Mayor of Kouandé as part of the implementation of the Pilot Project to Support the Restoration of the Mekrou Basin (PAREM). This is the start of the campaign for the reforestation the site of “Makrou wirou” in the neighborhoods of Birni (commune of Kouandé).

The GWP Cameroon hosted in Yaounde, the 8^th WACDEP Technical Coordination meeting from the 28-30^th September 2016.

 

Attendees to this regional meeting were the members of WACDEP Coordination Unit, regional and national WACDEP program Managers from the five Regions (GWP Med, GWP SA, GWP EA, GWP WAf and GWP CAf); the GWP-O Head of Program and the GWP-Cameroon Chair who led the GWP-CAf team.

 

The last technical coordination meeting held in Yaounde over three days had double main objectives. The first objective was to define the approaches for the regions and Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) to better handle the project document preparation process of WACDEP 2 and agree on the timelines of submitting the document to WACDEP Coordination Unit (WACDEP CU) for review. Therefore, two approaches were proposed with regards to the budget constraints: (a) to recruit a consultant for facilitating the process and (b) to constitute a team of experts of the WACDEP Technical Working Group (TWG) to develop the project documentation with a support from the WACDEP CU.

The second one was to agree on the roadmap for drafting the WACDEP (2011-2016) final report to submit it by 15 of October 2016.

One of the key IDMP actions in West Africa is the establishment of the national platforms in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and at regional level. These platforms will be used to discuss issues related to the integrated drought management. In Niger a meeting held on November 5 to set up the national platform on Integrated Drought Management (GIS) in the country. The finalization of the project document for the institutional framework of PGIS Niger was also discussed.

Under the Strategic Goal 2 Generate and Share Knowledge, the WACDEP Programme of GWP China Region stresses cross-regional cooperation, network with different provinces, sectors and organizations.