The Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa Secretariat held a consultative meeting with local government officials to garner consensus and local government’s feedback on the project’s objectives, intended outcomes, foreseeable challenges and steps to garner citizen participation and support for the WACDEP Trans-boundary project.
Water, Climate and Development (WACDEP) is the Program implemented by Global Water Partnership through its regional secretariats and offices.
GWP Egypt and the Delta Alliance jointly organised a workshop in Cairo in June within the framework of the ‘Enabling Delta Life’ initiative. The main aim was to identify elements of a programme that can complement and add value to on-going activities in the Nile delta.
Over 100 participants from 22 countries across the Mediterranean attended the recent launch of a joint GWP/OECD project on water governance and financing in the Mediterranean.
A one day workshop brought together around 20 journalists from various media houses and freelance journalists in The Gambia at the end of July. The topic was the ratification process of the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention, and how journalists can contribute to this process.
The Costa Rican government decided to revise its system of water use levy when it became evident that it was disproportionately low. Action was taken by key stakeholders to reconstruct a design of the water use levy to reflect two basic elements of water charge: water use rights and environmental water services. From this experience, the most important lesson is that political will must support legal and technical works when reforming economic instruments.
The Inception Meeting of the Preparation Phase of the GEF Project “Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management in the Extended Drin River Basin” was organized on the 27th and 28th May 2013 in Tirana, Albania, back to back with the First Meeting of the Parties to Drin Memorandum of Understanding .
Water policy goals for a sustainable future will be at the top of the agenda when 1200 participants get together in Hungary for the Budapest Water Summit next week. A delegation from GWP will emphasize the need for a dedicated water goal on the post-2015 agenda.
El Salvador has experienced an increased vulnerability due to Climate Change. To tackle the challenges, an Early Warning System has been installed. This is part of the strategy of the local government to reduce the vulnerability and develop the capacity of the area to deal with floods and landslides. One lesson learnt is that political stability in an area is a great asset when carrying out any political reform.
The Cuero River area is particularly susceptible to floods, making the communities living in the surrounding area vulnerable. This area was consequently chosen for implementation of an Early Warning System Project. Action was taken in three separate phases in three different areas. From the experience, the lesson learnt is that more effort should be devoted to training of a leader group that can promote and consolidate the system’s self-sufficiency.