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Name:                               Maria Amakali

Occupation:                     Director of Water Resources Management

Country:                          Namibia

Country of Work:           Namibia and SADC

What would you say are the main challenges in your work as a woman?

 

I started working as hydrologist in the Department of Water Affairs in the early nineties. I had studied in the US and was ready to come and work in a newly independent Namibia. My responsibilities included planning and execution of research and investigations regarding sustainable development of water resources; and providing advice on the effective utilization, protection and conservation of such resources. At a time I found a lot of males, in the department. Except for the two women scientist in Hydrology Division, most women were doing mostly secretarial or office administrative work. I remember one day standing outside, waiting for my ride home and this man came to me asking whose secretary I was. In an independent Namibia, I was quite shocked that the old stereotype mentality that women can only be secretaries still exists. Those days there were not many women or black hydrologists, but I was still offended.

 

Call for Quotations for Accommodation, subsistence and meeting facilities services  for an event to be organized by GWPMED as represented by MIO-ECSDE in Malta during  26^th to 27^th of July 2016.

GWP Ukraine joined forces with the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine to discuss the strategic vision of the water policy of Ukraine.

The IDMP project manager together with CWP Burkina and some GWP WA staff have visited the pilot project site wher innovating practices of resilience to drought are promoted in Komki Ipala. The visitors were much satisfied with results achieved by the pilot project which initiated various techniques of restoration of degraded lands to produce grass for animal feeding through natural assisted regeneration. These technics are mastered by the populations involved in the project. To show their mastery they are testing a long time abandoned land to grow some crops.

The CEPF funded Act4Drin project and the GEF/UNDP/GWP-Med project 'Enabling transboundary cooperation and integrated water resources management in the extended Drin River Basin' (GEF Drin Project) are joining forces to raise public awareness about the natural wealth and legacy of the Drin River Basin on the occasion of Drin Day 2016.

A workshop was organized in Maroua, Cameroon, under the direction of the Regional Delegate of MINEE from 07 to 08 February 2018. The workshop aimed to proceed with the technical validation of the reports of studies on the vulnerability of WASH services, and on stakeholder analysis and assessment of their capacity building needs.

GWP and UNICEF have been collaborating since 2014 on the development of a Strategic Framework for WASH Climate Resilient Development with a series of knowledge products to support the implementation of the Framework at regional, national, watershed and local level. Another two publications were launched at Stockholm World Water Week 2017.

Since 2015, the Country Water Partnership of Benin (Benin CWP) initiated with the support of the Water Integrity Network (WIN) the development of a charter for good governance in the frame of the Multiannual Programme for the promotion of integrity in the area of water and sanitation in Benin. A working group with the support of a consultant led the drafting process of the Charter. From October 2015 to date, the Charter was developed, and stakeholders were consulted on its contents as well as its operationalization mechanism that was also developed.

 

Citizen engagement is crucial for ensuring efficient water use in communities! Water management depends on all of us and therefore we must take action!