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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.

 

Two missions of the secretariat were undertaken in Niger and Burkina to follow up on the recommendations of the audit report for 2014 and to see how ta carry out projects both wth the Dori and Tera municipalitie in Burkina and Niger.

The finance and Mekrou project managers went in Niamey on 12 and 16 April 2015 to work with the Niger CWP and host institution Eau Vive on the recommendations contained in the 2014 audit report on the implementation of the Mekrou project in Niger.

 

 

Preparations for GWP’s participation in Stockholm World Water Week 2015 have been going on for several months and everything is now ready. The network is organising a number of events and GWP representatives will participate in many sessions throughout the week of 23-28 August.

The series of themed water discussion under the “Water Salon” has been designed and prepared since October of last year.  The first activity was held on May 11, 2015 in Beijing. Water Salon is organized by GWP China and its three regional partners, including the World Resources Institute (WRI) China, the WWF China and the IUCN China. 

Capacity building – at the individual, institutional, and societal levels – is an important means to further IWRM principles and boost the overall quality of water governance structures. Capacity building essentially stands for a twofold process: (1) it is about understanding the obstacles that prevent the people, the organisations, or any other elements of an institutional framework from fully realizing their development goals; and (2) it is also concerned with finding the applicable mechanisms in overcoming these challenges and ultimately achieving better and more sustainable results.

This conference takes place in East London, South Africa 3-7 November 2014. The programme includes a mixture of papers and parallel sessions with key stakeholders in policy and advocacy.

In the run-up to the World Water Day 2016, let’s become ambassadors for change. Let’s address water scarcity utilizing options beyond the conventional!

The 3^rd Climate Services User Forum for the Water Sector (CSUF-Water-3) held from 27 to 28 April in Colombo, Sri Lanka was successfully concluded yesterday, 28 April 2016.

Youth are an integral partner in managing water issues – this was evidenced through the participation of over 30 youth that participated in the SADC Water Week held at the Maseru Sun Cabanas Hotel in Maseru, Lesotho from 21-23^rd April, 2015. The event proved that engagement of youth in water management issues makes it possible for the youth to understand their roles as possible stewards in water management affairs. Held under the theme “From Vision to Action”, the youth were able to make personal commitment to solutions practicing better water management.