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The 22nd of March was dedicated to observing World Water Day 2017 around the world, under the theme “Water and Waste Water”.

The annual report recaps major achievements of GWP West Africa during the year 2016. It highlights main results and gives trends for the next steps on activities, programmes, projects and initiatives.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March), the officers of the Global Water Partnership have interviewed women in the water community across the global network on their journey to become successful in their professions, how to overcome obstacles they face as women, and also recommendations to other women. In GWP China, talk with Qihua CAI was in the office of the regional secretariat, hearing her 38 years of karma with the work in water sector.

On World Water Day 22 March 2017 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana hosted a roundtable entitled "The importance of drinking water sources for international peace and security."

Women hold up half the sky, quote from MAO Zedong in the 1950s, the core figure of New China's first generation leadership. From then on, China has always worked out development plans and pressed forward with gender equality and women’s development.

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 Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) together with the Agriculture Research Council (ARC) held a close-out workshop at Khoroni Metcourt in Venda, South Africa on 26 March 2015. A total of 24 people attended the workshop, the majority of whom were direct beneficiaries of the project, the farmers that implemented the Rain water Harvesting on their fields. Other key representatives were from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Limpopo Department of Agriculture, the tribal authority from Ha-Lambani .

“Action on water is an absolute and ethical imperative…Acting now is a matter of human dignity, justice, and survival. Waiting to act is no longer an option.” This was one of the strong messages of the Budapest Water Summit 2016, which took place 28-30 November in Budapest, Hungary. GWP global and GWP Central and Eastern Europe joined forces to represent the network at the event.

CWP Mali held on 11 and 12 April 2017 a workshop on the sustainable management of the industrial wate of Sotuba, a district in Bamako with many industries. The event was organized in collaboration with the national agency of cleaning stations of Mali under the patronage of the Minister of environment, sanitation and sustainable development represented by his General Secretary, Mr. Abdoulaye BERTHE.