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.
GWP has published its Annual Report for 2014, highlighting network achievements across all regions. “2014 was a rich and inspiring year. We significantly increased the visibility of our growing network at the local, regional, and global level,” wrote GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss in her introduction.
Tell us something about yourself
My name is Suzana Saranga Loforte, and I am a Water Resources Manager working at Direcção Nacional de Águas (DNA) - The National Water Directorate of Mozambique. I am a Mozambican that has been working in the water sector since 1985 in the field of water resources management, water supply and sanitation. While in the water sector I have been involved in regional initiatives such as preparation and implementation of the Regional Protocol on Shared Watercourses, The Regional Water Policy as well as the participation in several forum regarding establishment of river basin organisations.
The farmers in the Volta river basin generally rely on rain-fed agriculture. However, insufficient or irregular rainfall frequently puts farmers at risk of losing their crops. Farmers must have access to a reliable water supply to sustain their livelihoods. In line with the problems highlighted, the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) set out to find ways to strengthen the capacity of the famers, communities and other stake holders in the basin. As a lesson learnt, it is reasonable to expect stakeholders to adopt improved agricultural practices if such new practices are of their own benefit. Experiences show that stakeholders will only participate in innovation platform meetings when they see the value of doing so.
On October 15, 2014, Dr. Li Tao, the Director, and Ms Wang Dan of the China Regional Office of IWA visited GWP China Secretariat and had discussion about cooperation between the two organizations on the Symposium on Water, Energy and Food Nexus scheduled on Nov. 11-13, 2014 in Beijing China.
On January 12th, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit a point 15 km southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It led to more than 230 000 deaths and significant physical destructions. The response actions were limited by the underlying vulnerabilities that existed in the country prior to the event and by a lack of coordination among decision-makers. This study intended to improve the understanding of policy-makers, water and sanitation practitioners and researchers on the actions that have been taken and their outcomes in the water and sanitation sector in Port-au-Prince. It revealed that weak governance coupled with poor infrastructure can result in catastrophic scenarios after the occurrence of a disaster.
GWP has been requested by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) to support the preparations for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan. With inputs from its partners, GWP led the development of a brief on Water and Disaster Risk.
The GWP Technical Committee, in collaboration with the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), organized a workshop on the “Global Food Security Challenge through Coordinated Land and Water Governance”. The event took place 15-16 June in Pretoria, South Africa.
Within the framework of IDMP implementation, GWPEA has started the process of documenting and sharing the knowledge about good case studies on drought resilience the Horn of Africa, in selected countries including Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia