The eighth session of the learning group in Burkina Faso was held on 28 and 29 July 2015 in the Conference Room of the Directorate General of Water Resources (DGRE). The learning group of Burkina Faso (GAB) is a platform for sharing experiences, knowledge and skills of the water sector actors created in 2011 on the initiative of the Learning Centre on Water Resource Management (RLC-WRM). It brings together NGOs / Associations of the water sector, networks of organizations, development partners, research institutions and state structures. The Country Water Partnership (CWP) Burkina represents the GWP network within the learning group.
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 ninth (9th) session of the IWRM Experts Comity of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) was held in Lomé, Togo on 19 and 20 February 2015. The meeting was called to exchange on the evolution of IWRM in the region and review the ECOWAS/WRCC work plan for 2015.
From 1-2 September 2014, GWPEA organized in Rubavu, Rwanda a training workshop for 18 journalists from various media outlets.
The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) has established a formal agreement with the Department for Planning and Conservation of Agricultural Lands at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture towards integrating climate change considerations in water and soil conservation planning, under the WACDEP (Water, Climate & Development) Programme; and in this context, it has entered a very fruitful collaboration with the Ministry, as well as the Regional Department for Agriculture in Bizerte, in Tunisia’s North, using the Douimis Basin in the Bizerte Region as a pilot for the development of the climate change mainstreaming methodology.
The United Nations World Water Day (WWD) is celebrated on March 22nd each year. This year’s (2016) WWD theme is “Water and Jobs.”
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.