GWP SA was invited to join about twenty other stakeholders in a discussion convened by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) Brownbag. The discussion was held on 27th November 2013 to converse food insecurity in Southern Africa. The brown bag represents an effort to engage stakeholders to dialogue in order to address deeper problems – focusing on changing underlying policy, legislation and practice, rather than on short-term welfarest interventions. The discussion was moderated by Masego Madzwamuse, the Economic Justice Programme Manager at OSISA.
In line with one of the decisions of the Sixteenth Session of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Malawi launched its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) on 2nd September at Sunbird Capital Hotel in Lilongwe. This was followed by a three day National Stakeholder Workshop at Sunbird Livingstonia Beach Hotel in Salima whose goal was to assist the Malawi Government to identify the next steps to start its National Adaptation Plan Process through multi-stakeholder engagement.
The Municipality of Talcahuano because of rapid urbanisation is subjected to natural resource degradation. Action was taken and a municipal strategy was created, assigning the municipality as the institution in charge of administering and combating natural resource degradation. This case illustrates the appropriateness of the municipal level of government in successfully addressing the recovery of water resources and environmental management.
Aimed at integrating climate change considerations in water and soil conservation planning in Tunisia, the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) has established, in the framework of its WACDEP Programme (Water, Climate and Development Programme), a very beneficial collaboration with the Department for Planning and Conservation of Agricultural Lands at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture and the Regional Department for Agriculture in Bizerte, in Tunisia’s North.
Water and energy are inseparable. To draw attention to the links between water and energy, GWP has released a new video about the theme of World Water Day 2014.
The national workshop to validate the results of three studies carried out on behalf of the Mékrou Project in Benin in 2014 was held on 8 and 9 January 2015 in Cotonou. These studies examined the reports on the National Consultation on the project objectives, on the participatory institutional diagnosis consultation with all major stakeholders and on the participatory assessment of existing capacity and needs in capacity building. This workshop is organized by the Country Water Partnership of Benin (Benin CWP), which, in collaboration with the Directorate General of Water (DG Water) and the National Water Institute (INE), coordinate the project in Benin, on behalf of GWP / WA.
Two missions of the secretariat were undertaken in Niger and Burkina to follow up on the recommendations of the audit report for 2014 and to see how ta carry out projects both wth the Dori and Tera municipalitie in Burkina and Niger.
The finance and Mekrou project managers went in Niamey on 12 and 16 April 2015 to work with the Niger CWP and host institution Eau Vive on the recommendations contained in the 2014 audit report on the implementation of the Mekrou project in Niger.
Tanzania from 11-13 March kick-starts the Southern African Development Community (SADC) National Consultations to be held in all the 15 SADC member states. The consultations, to be held under the theme “From Vision to Action”, will provide a platform for (SADC) to engage and interact with the various stakeholders in mapping the strategic direction of the regional water resources management, SADC will be undertaking national consultations in the SADC Water Weeks within 15 of the SADC member countries. In each country, the platform will be provided through three main activities (media training, a youth forum and a national consultation). The national consultations are being facilitated by the SADC secretariat and implemented by GWP SA through the Country Water Partnerships (CWPs). Additionally, each consultation is being hosted by the ministry responsible for water in each country.
The Chair of the GWP Technical Committee, Dr. Mohamed Ait-Kadi is happy to announce the arrival of three new members on the committee, appointed by the Steering Committee: Mike Young, Nicole Bernex and Dan Tarlock. In addition, Dr Thomas Panella has been appointed as the Asian Development Bank representative.