Mauritius joined the other SADC countries in providing input to the 4th phase of the Regional Water Programme by holding a workshop in the context of the SADC Water Week on 3 and 4th June 2015. The meeting held at Voilà Hotel in Bagatelle was opened by Mr. Ivan Collendavallo, Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, and attended by 60 stakeholders from the water sector, supporting sectors, media and youth.
The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana), as a way forward to the Media Training which was held in September last year, supported the Ghana WatSan Journalists Network (GWJN) to carry out a three day field activity in order to determine access to water in some areas of Accra. The exercise was held from 19th to 21st March, 2015.
The purpose for the activity was to ascertain the extent of access to water and sanitation services in some communities in Accra. In all, there were 18 participants in the exercise from, Wash Times, Xinhua News Agency, The Accra Times, Today Newspaper, Daily Guide, Daily Graphic, Weekend Sun, Metro TV, Starr FM, The General Telegraph and Ghanaian Times.
In Sub Saharan Africa, climate change is worsening at an alarming rate. The situation on food security vis-à-vis water resources is serious and everyone has a responsibility to develop appropriate means to address the issue. Following national consultations in the led-up to the UN Committee on Food Security’s (UN CFS) 42nd session last year, 50 representatives from 9 countries across Africa met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 18-19 May to prepare for the next step; moving from identification to implementation (#WFEEnexus).
GWP is introducing several new publications at World Water Week 2014: two GWP Technical Committee Background Papers, one Perspectives Paper, one Briefing Note and one Proceedings Paper. All of these are available online, and in hard copy through the GWP online order form.
GWP-Med organises a workshop within the framework of the ‘Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector’ Project, in Athens on 2-4 March 2015, aiming to strengthen the Secretariat’s, as well as its partners’, capacity on mainstreaming gender and corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in water policy-related work.
Many Studies to be carried early 2016 Terms of References (ToRs) were developed and launched in all the three countries for biding. Some offers have already been received and each CWP as well as the regional coordination are following closely.
The project has also requested from each country to submit a proposal of pilot project to be carried in the framework of the Mekrou. Proposals have been received from Burkina, Niger and Benin is still to submit.