A workshop on Water Integrity took place from 20-22 May 2013 at Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop discussed the theme “Strengthening Civil Society and Media’s Role in Promoting Integrity and Accountability in the Water Sector”. The course was part of a larger capacity building programme on integrity and accountability in the water sector developed by the UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI, Cap-Net, WaterNet and the Water Integrity Network (WIN) in order to assist in building institutional capacity among key stakeholders. Previous workshops have targeted water managers, and other water decision-makers as primary target groups.
The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) is an implementing partner for SADC providing programmatic support to the implementation of the RSAP III and is providing support to increasing engagement of stakeholders within the Phase III of the Transboundary Water Resources Management Programme. In the RSAP III, GWP SA is included as an implementing agent in delivering components of the SADC/ GIZ“Mainstreaming Climate Change in the SADC Water Sector”. The programme aims to ensure that more investments are made in the management and development of shared water courses and is being implemented under three work packages, namely:Work Package 1 (WP1) – Increasing and harnessing knowledge for us, Work Package 2 (WP2): Increasing stakeholder involvement; and Work Package 3 (WP3): Increasing Investments.
In this regard, GWPSA is facilitating four studies within the SADC region, under work package 1 – “Increasing and harnessing knowledge for use”, with the following objectives:
On February 27-28, 2013, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa’s (GWPSA) Executive Secretary, Ms Ruth Beukman participated in the Post- 2015 Development Agenda Consultation on Water: Water Resources Management (WRM) and Wastewater Management & Water Quality (WWMWQ). Ms Beukman was invited by UN Water to be a panellist and was sponsored by UNECE to participate. The meeting was sponsored by the Government of Switzerland as part of the Thematic Consultation on Water, coordinated by UN-Water, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
The national meeting to validate and launch the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) in Ghana for ‘no/low’ regrets investments to increase access to water and sustainable development was held on 11th July, 2013 at Erata Hotel in Accra. The meeting was organised by the Ghana Country Water Partnership (G-CWP) in collaboration with the National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) of the Resource Centre Network under the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.
The national meeting to validate and launch the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) in Ghana for ‘no/low’ regrets investments to increase access to water and sustainable development was held on 11th July, 2013 at Erata Hotel in Accra. The meeting was organised by the Ghana Country Water Partnership (G-CWP) in collaboration with the National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) of the Resource Centre Network under the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.
The seventh regional workshop for capacity building of women and men in the media in West Africa was held from 1st to 5th July 2013 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. «Water Financing and the protection of the resource in West Africa" was the topic of this annual event attended by 35 journalists from 12 ECOWAS countries plus Mauritania. It was jointly organized by Global Water Partnership in West Africa (GWP-WA) and the West and Central Africa Regional Office of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN-PACO).
Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LBVC) and GWP Eastern Africa discussed strategic areas of cooperation as the two institutions share a lot in water resources management in Eastern Africa region.
“A lot is going on but we are not aware of it. We live in a small region but we don’t know what each other is doing in terms of teaching water resources management in universities,” was the key message of Professor Adrian Cashman from the University of West Indies, Cave Hill Campus at the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Knowledge Sharing workshop in Barbados on June 5-6, 2013.
Professor Abel Akambi AFOUDA visited Ouagadougou from 6 to 11 June 2013. This was his first visit as the new Chair to the Secretariat to touch realities of his collaborators and have an overview of main issues to tackle by GWP at regional level. He also had some discussions with his predecessor.