The practice known as rainwater harvesting or roof-water harvesting is as old as time and as modern as today — as a new following of people from around the world are choosing to harvest rain to provide for their everyday needs and to help the planet by conserving water.
Following the WACDEP Africa Technical Coordination and Annual Programming Meeting which was held from the 15th to the 17th of September 2014 at Meikles Hotel, Harare, Zimbabwe a training workshop on Project Preparation and Financing was held from the 18th to the 19th September, 2014. The training workshop brought together 35 participants which included the WACDEP Africa Coordination Unit; WACDEP Project Preparation National Consultants, WACDEP Work Package 4 (WP 4) National and Regional Partner Institutions and WACDEP Country Programme Managers.
The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP SA) and the Resilience in the Limpopo Project (RESILIM – a USAID funded project) are working on behalf of the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) to review and update into an Action plan - ‘the Limpopo Basin Strategic Plan for reducing vulnerability to floods and droughts’. This review is part of the assistance being given to the LIMCOM in order for it to develop a Disaster Risk Reduction Action Plan.
A landmark conference took place on 15-17 October 2014 at Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa to enhance discussions between SADC and SADC regional partners such as River Basin Organisations, International Cooperating partners and developmental partners, such as RESILIM, CRIDF and GWPSA on “Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Resilience in Water Related Disasters”.
Based on country studies on Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (LIKSP) and how they contribute to enhancing climate resilience in each of the 14 countries in the SADC region, Qandelihle Simelane (regional consultant of LIKSP studies) gave a regional summation from country studies undertaken in the region during the 6th SADC River Basin Organisations (RBOs) Workshop held from the 15th to the 17th of October 2014 at Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa under the theme “Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Resilience in Water Related Disasters.”
The Director of the National Water Agency of Brazil, Gisela Forattini, who is also a GWP Steering Committee member, introduced the GWP Gender Strategy at the Governmental Forum of Social Responsibility held on 18 September in Brazil.
Mongolia was recently established as a GWP Country Water Partnership (CWP). Professor Davaa Basandorj is the Executive Director of the new CWP. He says that the biggest water problem in Mongolia is water shortage, and that the water management in the country has to be improved.
This conference takes place in East London, South Africa 3-7 November 2014. The programme includes a mixture of papers and parallel sessions with key stakeholders in policy and advocacy.
A presentation on Gender Mainstreaming in the SADC Water Sector was made during the 6th RBO workshop held on 15-17 October, 2014 at Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa. GWP SA has facilitated the organization of the RBO workshops, which are aimed at enhancing and building the ability of the RBOs to prepare, respond and recover from water related impacts (flood and droughts) and build resilience to climate change within the RBOs through all aspects, including gender mainstreaming.
GWP Burkina Faso implemented the start-up meeting and first national training workshop on June 16th and 17th to 20th, 2014, respectively in Ouagadougou. The start-up workshop was chaired by the General Secretary of the Ministry of Water, Hydraulic facilities and Sanitation, the Executive Secretary of GWP-West Africa and the Chair of GWP-WACDEP Burkina Faso.