On 8 March 2015, GWP celebrates International Women’s Day by advocating for a #watergoal, which would mean major improvements in living conditions for women worldwide. GWP Chair Ursula Schaefer-Preuss points out that there is a close connection between women and water.
1. Mekrou Project is studying the impact on the W Park
A study is being carried by the Country Water Partnership of Benin to collect ecnomic data on the visitors of the W Park that covers part of the Mekrou Basin. The assessment is initiated by the Joint Research Center (JCR) with the support of GWP West Africa.
GWP West Africa and the Country Water Partnership (CWP) of Burkina Faso animated a booth during the first forum on water and sanitation in Ouagadougou from 12 to 14 February 2015. The event took place around the topic : "permanent access for all to water and sanitation by 2030: Strategies, concrete solutions and commitments of relevant parties".
The national reserve Sur is deteriorating. Action has been taken by NGOs to initiate a project to restore water conditions in the reserve, including the interplay between water and soil. Despite the projects importance, it failed to be implemented due to conflicts with national authorities. This case illustrates the danger of EU initiatives being implemented without an active public involvement since this creates risks of low acceptance of local communities and land owners.
Two of the regional ‘sister networks’, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP-SA) and WaterNet held a regional knowledge exchange workshop from the 12th to 13th of August 2014 at Protea Edward Hotel in Durban, South Africa. The workshop was aimed at strengthening the partnership between the two networks in knowledge management and professional capacity development. The workshop addressed three critical issues: providing an overview of GWP’s Knowledge Management strategic thrust and the GWP IWRM Toolbox; strengthening the GWP-SA and WaterNet partnership on ‘research for development’; and building on professional capacity development.
Madagascar held its SADC Water Week on the 3rd, 4th and 5th June at the Ivato Conference Centre in Antananarivo. This event was held in high esteem given the present context in Madagascar. In fact, it has just been about 17 months since Madagascar was welcomed back in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). On Wednesday the 3rd, a joint session was held for media experts and the youth to provide them with some relevant background information on this SADC initiative. The meeting brought together youth from the water sector and beyond, as well as media experts from various ministries, some NGOs, civil societies and academic institutions.
The international Institute for Water Engineering and Environment (2IE) in collaboration with DHI organized a training session on Integrated Water Resources Management and Environment. The training took place from 9 to 20 February 2015 in Ouagadougou for participants from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. As it has become an habit GWP West Africa was asked to make a communication on its activities and knowledge products to the participants.
The Change Agenda was a big topic at this year’s GWP’s annual Regional Days, which took place in Stockholm 10-13 May. As the network is preparing the 3-year work programme (2017-19), discussions were held on how the network can stay relevant and continue as a frontrunner on global water issues in an ever-changing environment.
The Chair of GWP- WA, Professor Abel AFOUDA conducted a working visit to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Niamey in Niger from 4 to 8 February 2014 to discuss mainly on the new project ''Water for Growth and poverty Reduction in the Mekrou transboundary River basin”.