From December 14 to 16, 2015, the “Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation in Flood Management” was jointly organized by GWP China and GWPO in Guangdong, China.
This article is part of a wider coverage of the “MENA Focus” events, a set of four regional sessions dedicated to the Middle East & North Africa, officially launched at the Stockholm World Water Week 2016, alongside the Regional Days for Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) had been selected and serves as the overall coordinator for these “MENA Focus” events. The sessions were organized in partnership with a number of international regional institutions and organisations. “Seeking answers to the MENA water crisis” was the first out of the four sessions, held on the 30th of August.
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.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March), the officers of the Global Water Partnership have interviewed women in the water community across the global network on their journey to become successful in their professions, how to overcome obstacles they face as women, and also recommendations to other women. In GWP China, talk with Qihua CAI was in the office of the regional secretariat, hearing her 38 years of karma with the work in water sector.
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.
CamboWP (Cambodia Water Partnership) was executing in 2014 the Project: “4Ps Area acknowledged by the policy makers’ level to support water security policy in the Mekong Basin of Cambodia”, under WACDEP #2: WP 2: National Development and Sector Plans. The project reviewed existing water policies and interventions and supported for an update of them with water security and climate resilience planning and for bringing them into account in the national development planning and decision making processes. The project provided decision makers and policy manager with overview of the basic knowledge and experiences as well as recommendations found by the project that supported them in developing, reviewing and implementing water and related policies, strategies and regulations in the whole country.