2015 is a milestone with the new UN Sustainable Development Goals and the upcoming COP 21 on Climate Change in Paris in December. For the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), 2015 is the “water” year. Water is the main agricultural production factor impacted by climate change. In the Global Water Partnership (GWP), partners are joining forces at country, regional and global levels to contribute to sustainable development in the face of climate change. This initiative, in Sub Saharan Africa, will, in an inclusive manner, identify challenges and technical and institutional priority actions, and implement concrete activities at all levels. Read more
A workshop on the Integrated Urban Water Management was help in Abidjan from 25 to 28 JAnuary 2016. This workshop was jointly organized by Global Water Partnership and the African Water Facility.
International donors have poured money into developing Nepal’s irrigation infrastructures since the late-1950s, but results remain only partly successful. At present, irrigation infrastructures have been developed to serve 1.331 million ha but the irrigation potential is estimated to about 1.76 million ha. The Irrigation Water Resources Management Project is one of the latest international aid efforts aimed to developing the irrigation facilities while improving Nepal’s institutional framework pertaining to water infrastructure projects. The importance of adequate and timely finance, well-defined administrative roles and institutional capacity building are part of the key lessons learned from this project.
The international Institute for Water Engineering and Environment (2IE) in collaboration with DHI organized a training session on Integrated Water Resources Management and Environment. The training took place from 9 to 20 February 2015 in Ouagadougou for participants from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. As it has become an habit GWP West Africa was asked to make a communication on its activities and knowledge products to the participants.
The Gambia Country Water Partnership (GCWP) is the youngest of the CWPs in West Africa (officially launched in December 2011) is yet to complete its accreditation process as a partner of Global Water Partnership (GWP). Some actions were undertaken since 2014 which didn’t get through. To facilitate the exchange process with country partners in The Gambia, the Executive Secretary decided that the Communication manager goes to Banjul and prepares with them all the needed documentation for the accreditation to be done as soon as possible.
In his address to the participants during the official ceremony of the Integrated Drought Management Project in West Africa (IDMP-WAF), the Chair of GWP-WA, Pr. Abel AFOUDA made a vibrant plea inviting organizations represented at the workshop and other regional institutions and governments in the region to add their voice to the GWP in the campaign for a dedicated "Water Goal" in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted in September 2015 on the occasion of the 70th ordinary Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
A training course on International Water Law (IWL) in Africa took place in Kampala, Uganda, in June. It was the second year running that GWP and its Partners organised the course, with the aim to strengthen transboundary water resources management in Africa. The training was appreciated by the participants who lauded its significance in improving water governance in basins.