Pr. Abel AFOUDA visited the secretariat from 21 to 26 March 2016. He discussed with the personnel all issues from traditional running ones to project technical and planning issues.
The elaboration of the study on the "Identification of development priorities in the Mékrou transboundary basin" in each country (Benin, Burkina and Niger) with workshops for the restitution and validation has been delayed because of some practical issues. The contracts were signed with some delay with each consultants and some national issues linked to the political and social situation couldn’t allow work to go on correctly.
A regional water youth network was created by participants to the recent Youth for Water Conference organised by GWP Central America, Movimiento de Jóvenes por el Agua (Youth Movement for Water, MOJA) and La Ruta del Clima (The Climate Route) and supported by GWP South America, UNICEF-Nicaragua, Reforestamos Mexico, and IUCN.
In the 2015accounts audit report, the auditor's conclusion was the following: "We believe that the financial report of the Regional Water Partnership for West Africa (GWP/WA) and the CWPs (Burkina and Ghana) accurately reflect the statement and financial position of the Regional Water Partnership for West Africa and the CWPs (Burkina and Ghana) as of 31st December 2015, consistently with the GWP financial procedures.”
The way forward in 2016 is to strive to implement all partially implemented recommendations including those made in 2014 and those made as of 31st December, 2015. It should be noted that almost all new recommendations dating from 31st December 2015 have already been implemented prior to the finalization of the audit report in 2015 in Burkina Faso and for the region.
Ivory Coast has celebrated World Water Day 2016 and the second edition of the National Water Week from March 22 to 24. The topic of celebration was inspired from the global theme: "Ivory Coast, emerging in 2020: what contributions of the water sector to creating jobs and wealth? »
The CWP Burkina organized a guided tour on Friday, March 4, 2016 on the pilot project on drip irrigation using solar energy on the site of Ramintenga in the municipality of Loumbila. Representatives of the town hall of Loumbila, the Regional Chamber of Agriculture (CRA) of the Central Plateau, the Regional Directorate in charge of Agriculture, hydraulics, sanitation and Food security (DRAHASA), the Malgb-Zanga Association, the local Water committee of Northern Massili, members of the SIDWAYA group, and CWP-Burkina took part in the tour.
Development of a roadmap to implement recommendations of the national consultation on water and food security in support of agriculture development programs in Africa
The Country Water Partnership of Benin, with financial support from the German technical cooperation agency GIZ through the ProSEHA Programme, organized from 24 to 25 March 2016 a restitution workshop of the results and the development process for the implementation of the roadmap recommendations of the national consultation on water and food security in support of agriculture development programs in Africa (PDDA).
Cooperation between GWP Slovakia and the Eastern Africa region has been in existence for quite some time. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Khartoum in March to outline the next steps of collaboration.