An International Water Law workshop took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 16-20 November. The event promoted international cooperation and good transboundary water resources governance in the Amazon and Rio de la Plata basins.
GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss participated in the Sixth Meeting for High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) and the Second UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters in New York, USA, in November.
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.
The WACDEP Regional Programme Manager undertook a mission on 6 November 2015 on the program demonstration site in the municipality of Loumbila in Nakanbé (Volta Basin) in Burkina Faso.
As part of the implementation of Mekrou project, and in order to lay the foundations for proper planning, a socio-economic survey will be carried out on households in the basin area in the 3 countries. An initial technical information and training workshop of country coordinators of these investigations was held in Cotonou from 18 to 20 November 2015.
Like all players in the WASH sector, the Consultation Framework of Non-state actors in the water sector and sanitation (Canea) celebrated World Toilet Day (WTD) on November 19, 2015 through financial support from WSSCC. It was an opportunity to mobilize all stakeholders for a public debate around the effectiveness of the END OPEN AIR defecation (ODF) for better health of the population.
The village communities of Tampizua II in the Bawku Municipality and Azum Sapelga in the Binduri district of Northern Ghana are very happy with the field demonstration project being implemented in their communities. Located on the borders of the White Volta River these communities are experiencing various unfortunate situations such as floodings that are affecting their livelihoods because of climate related factors.
Global Water Partnership Southern Africa attended training on the application of Environmental Flows in the management of transboundary river basins in Southern Africa, with a special focus on the Pungwe River Basin. The training which brought together about 20 participants was an IUCN initiative and was held from 30th November to 3rd December in Cape Town, South Africa. The main parties involved were the government representatives of both Mozambique and Zimbabwe who share the river Basin and therefore needed to come together and agree on the Environmental Flows requirements to ensure equitable socio-economic development and growth.
The National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) that was adopted in July 2014 was officially launched by the Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the 19th of November 2015 at Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe. The launch was attended by senior government officials, representatives from different organisations in the water sector and the local leadership drawn from the 9 Provinces around the country. The launch came at a time when Zimbabwe is stepping up efforts towards climate change adaptation and mitigation as witnessed by the development of the Strategy and the Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCs) to support the process.