The national Water Policy Dialogue, having engaged more than 100 Tunisian stakeholders within the past year (2013-2014), concluded with the launch of the National Report “Water Governance in Tunisia: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” held on 9 June 2014, in Tunis. The Report is the outcome of the multi-stakeholder Policy Dialogue and includes a diagnostic analysis of the key governance bottlenecks to private sector participation (PSP) in water supply and sanitation services as well as concrete policy recommendations for overcoming them.
On May 19, 2015, the 2015 World Hydropower Congress was opened in Beijing, China, with 1,000 representatives of the government, civil society, finance, academia and industry gathering to discuss the future direction of the sector. Prof. Wang Hao, Acting Chair of GWP China Region and Angela Klauschen, Senior Network Officer of GWPO, participated in the Congress.
Some 40 key stakeholders from the government; private companies and banks; research institutes and Academia; media as well as the Civil Society discussed and contributed to the final draft of the Report ‘Governance in Palestine: Sector Reform to include Private Sector Participation’, during the Third Consultation Workshop of the Palestinian Water Policy Dialogue. The workshop was organised by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), within the Union for the Mediterranean project Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector and under the patronage of H.E. Mazen Ghuneim, Chairman of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), in Ramallah, on 16 June 2015.
The WACDEP regional programme officer took part in the review and validation workshop of Volume 1 or updated status inventory report within the development process of the Master Plan for the Development Scheme and Water Management (SDAGE) of the Nakanbé Management area. The workshop organized by the Directorate General for Nakanbé Water Agency (DG-EAN) brought together members of the multisectoral monitoring committee Monday, November 24, 2014 at Nomgana, 20km from Ouagadougou.
The National Youth Parliament for Water and Sanitation in Benin organized on August 26, 2015 with the support of the Benin Country Water Partnership (CWP Benin) and GIZ, in Cotonou, a workshop to validate the report of the national consultation on the place of youth in the governance of water and food security in the context of climate change. The workshop was attended by several youth organizations, the Advisory Body for Youth, public institutions and technical and financial partners involved in the water sector, food security and climate change in Benin.
A media training targeting local journalists who report on environmental, water and climate change issues was undertaken at Rainbow Towers in Harare, Zimbabwe on the 17th of March 2015. The media training forms part of the programme on the SADC Water Weeks which will be held in each of the 15 SADC member states spearheaded by the SADC Water Sector under the auspices of the Infrastructure and Services Directorate. The National Water Weeks, running under the theme “From Vision to Action” are supporting SADC to have a platform in interacting with member states on water resources management strategic issues. The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP SA) is playing a role in providing support in undertaking this initiative. GWPSA has partnered with the Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa in conducting the media trainings.
Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE) organized an innovative session on stakeholder involvement in water resource management at European River restoration Conference (ERRC) 2014 in Vienna on 29 October 2014.
A WACDEP Burkina team met on August 19 the AEN team to discuss a kick off project for the involvement of the CWP in the Master plan. The mission aimed also at starting anew the consultations for the development of bancable projects in the basin.
According the WACDEP manager the CWP support will focus on water resources and climate change. And in this context the CWP has already supported the AEN in the development of the Massili local water committee (CLE Massili), in the development of the SDAGE and bankable projects that address new issues.
Due to a growing need within the region for countries to agree on a water-related research agenda and themes, and to avoid duplication in research, a workshop on developing a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Water Research Agenda was held at St. George Hotel in Pretoria, South Africa from the 8th to the 9th of April 2015. The workshop was planned and organised conjointly by SADC and WaterNet with the cooperation of GWP SA.