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The International River Foundation has recently formed a partnership to deliver a European Riverprize in 2013, the first of its kind.

A major impetus has been given to the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) for Africa at a wide-ranging Technical Coordination Workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa, January 28 to February 1, 2013. Participants from the eight implementing countries and seven key partner agencies shared achievements to date, lessons learned, and challenges to come in implementing the Programme.

The IRF has recently formed a partnership to deliver a European Riverprize for the first time in 2013.

A major impetus has been given to the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) for Africa at a wide-ranging Technical Coordination Workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa, January 28 to February 1, 2013. Participants from the eight implementing countries and seven key partner agencies shared achievements to date, lessons learned, and challenges to come in implementing the Programme.

What differentiates IWRM from traditional water management approaches is the idea that water security can only be reached if different sectors that use water resources share information and collaborate on management issues. Another major difference is the meaningful involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making and implementation process. Both of these are impossible to achieve without communication. But the more diverse the actors are, the more likely they are to misunderstand each other or to pursue different kinds of interests, and the more communication specifically for conflictive situations might be needed. Communication is fundamental to any kind of success in IWRM.

Institutions responsible for delivering such services can be public, private, or cooperatively owned and manged entities but can also result from collaborations between these sectors. Service providers are responsible for establishing, maintaining, and upgrading the water supply system, which typically involves for: collection, treatment, distribution, quality control, sewage, and reuse of water. IWRM principles stipulate that water should be provided in adequate, quality, and affordable supplies. An integrated strategy also presupposes that water services should be tailored according to the social, economic, and environmental contexts.

Half of the land area of Tien Giang Province in Vietnam is exposed to annual floods and the other half to saline intrusion. Action was taken to formulate the National RWSS Strategy and efforts were made to make local communities aware of methods and approaches in harvesting water and well drilling that are cost effective and sustainable in their development. The key lesson is the value of appropriate planning prior to any project.