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The Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA), the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) and the Global Environment Facility’s Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management (GEF-CReW) are collaborating to host the 10^th Annual High Level Session (HLS) Ministerial Forum in The Bahamas on October 9^th and 10^th, 2014.

How to deliver water, energy and food for all in a sustainable and equitable way, while preserving the health of natural ecosystems that form the basis of any economic activity? The Nexus approach moves beyond traditional sectoral thinking in order to achieve overall security and sustainability of all resources.

Name:                               Maria Amakali

Occupation:                     Director of Water Resources Management

Country:                          Namibia

Country of Work:           Namibia and SADC

What would you say are the main challenges in your work as a woman?

 

I started working as hydrologist in the Department of Water Affairs in the early nineties. I had studied in the US and was ready to come and work in a newly independent Namibia. My responsibilities included planning and execution of research and investigations regarding sustainable development of water resources; and providing advice on the effective utilization, protection and conservation of such resources. At a time I found a lot of males, in the department. Except for the two women scientist in Hydrology Division, most women were doing mostly secretarial or office administrative work. I remember one day standing outside, waiting for my ride home and this man came to me asking whose secretary I was. In an independent Namibia, I was quite shocked that the old stereotype mentality that women can only be secretaries still exists. Those days there were not many women or black hydrologists, but I was still offended.

 

The GWP Technical Committee has launched three new Technical Focus Papers and introduced a Background Paper. This took place at an event in Stockholm on 28 August. The event was live streamed and a recording of this will be available shortly.

Journalist and Station Manager at GTC Radio in Grenada, Mr. Milton Coy, has claimed the top spot in the 2013 Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) Media Awards on Water.

The West and Central Africa Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN / PACO) and the Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) released today March 11, 2015 the names of the winners of the second edition of the "Water and Environment Journalism" competition.

In Thailand the risk disaster early warning system has been designated by law to the department of the disaster prevention and mitigation.  However, the representation of the department is only at the provincial level. The assistance from the department has been seen as not enough and not in time and communities were stimulated to recognize their own risk and the need to work together to solve or reduce the flood risk.

 

Pic Description from left to right:
1. mapping out of their own communities self actualization 
2. early warning sign water level in the risk area spotted by local groups
3. preparing for the survey 
4. Table top drill for risk prevention and mitigation

The meeting on the project "Green Growth Framework for water security in the Aral Sea Basin was held on 26-28 March 2013 in Seoul, Korea.

The annual Workshop was held on November 24 and 25, 2014, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province with 80 participants from different provinces and the institutions under the MWR and the NGOs. Ms MA Yilin, the Communications Officer, GWP China, participated in this activity.