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.
An onsite meeting was attended by the main actors involved in the implementation of the demonstration project in order to assess the progress.
As of April 29, 2015, IRRIFASO has completed the installation of drip irrigation system. They also tested the system with the existing pump on site. The conclusion is that the system is operating normally, the pressure achieved was 0.3 bar considered to be sufficient for such a system.
Like many regions across the world, Central Asia is seeking ways of making the best use of limited water resources, and integrated water resources management (IWRM) is seen as the means of achieving this. A new Technical Focus Paper provides a critical review of progress made.
The World Water Congress kicked off in Scotland yesterday (May 25th, 2015). Since 1973, the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) has held a World Water Congress every three (3) years in various locations around the world.
At the SADC Water Week in Mozambique held from 20-22 May, 2015, stakeholders discussed the challenging aspects of managing water resources in the country in view of Mozambique sharing a number of river basins with its neighbours. For instance, the supply of water for the river basins located in the southern part of the country is heavily dependent on the Basins of international rivers. The solution to this challenge was seen in Mozambique requiring to always adapt an integrated water resources management approach and having long-term cooperative arrangements with its neighbours to avoid water availability being a constraint on future growth.
The 3rd Regional Alumni Workshop in the framework of the Sida funded and Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled programme ‘Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region’[1] was organized by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in collaboration with Al Akhawayn University, on 23-26 May 2016, in Ifrane, Morocco.
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) launched its new Youth Engagement Strategy at Stockholm World Water Week on August 25th, 2015. The youth strategy supports the wider GWP “Towards 2020” Strategy as does the GWP Gender Strategy, which was launched in August 2014.
On August 23, 2015, GWP China, jointly with WRI and WWF China, organized the side-event of the 2015 World Water Week, "How to Secure Water and Energy Amidst Rapid Urbanization" in Stockholm, Sweden
The University of Ljubljana hosted the first SANDANUBE workshop on 19-20 April in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Its goal was to define the parameters of a full scale project proposal on sustainable sanitation in Central and Eastern Europe.
The University of Ljubljana hosted the first SANDANUBE workshop on 19-20 April in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Its goal was to define the parameters of a full scale project proposal on sustainable sanitation in Central and Eastern Europe.