Uneven geographical distribution, coupled with pressures from rapid population growth, increased urbanization, industrialization and environmental degradation, is a big challenge to the sustainable development of Uganda’s freshwater resources. However, the policy and institutional framework has advanced over the past two decades in Uganda. The policy and legal reform process started with the introduction of the Water Act (1995) and the Uganda Water Action Plan (1995). Other key policies included the National Water Policy (1999) and the Local Government Act (1997, 2000). A key Lesson learnt is that political support matters in achieving success, as does the nature and logic of the political system. In Uganda, political prioritization of water and poverty was central to progress. The depth and longevity of sector reform relies on political support, which can ebb and flow.
Professor Abel Akambi AFOUDA visited Ouagadougou from 6 to 11 June 2013. This was his first visit as the new Chair to the Secretariat to touch realities of his collaborators and have an overview of main issues to tackle by GWP at regional level. He also had some discussions with his predecessor.
GWP has published its Annual Report for 2014, highlighting network achievements across all regions. “2014 was a rich and inspiring year. We significantly increased the visibility of our growing network at the local, regional, and global level,” wrote GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss in her introduction.
Tell us something about yourself
My name is Suzana Saranga Loforte, and I am a Water Resources Manager working at Direcção Nacional de Águas (DNA) - The National Water Directorate of Mozambique. I am a Mozambican that has been working in the water sector since 1985 in the field of water resources management, water supply and sanitation. While in the water sector I have been involved in regional initiatives such as preparation and implementation of the Regional Protocol on Shared Watercourses, The Regional Water Policy as well as the participation in several forum regarding establishment of river basin organisations.
On October 15, 2014, Dr. Li Tao, the Director, and Ms Wang Dan of the China Regional Office of IWA visited GWP China Secretariat and had discussion about cooperation between the two organizations on the Symposium on Water, Energy and Food Nexus scheduled on Nov. 11-13, 2014 in Beijing China.
On January 12th, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit a point 15 km southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It led to more than 230 000 deaths and significant physical destructions. The response actions were limited by the underlying vulnerabilities that existed in the country prior to the event and by a lack of coordination among decision-makers. This study intended to improve the understanding of policy-makers, water and sanitation practitioners and researchers on the actions that have been taken and their outcomes in the water and sanitation sector in Port-au-Prince. It revealed that weak governance coupled with poor infrastructure can result in catastrophic scenarios after the occurrence of a disaster.
The WACDEP Coordinating Unit, under GWP SA has been working with stakeholders in and the WACDEP Program Managers in Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the preparation of the Reference Group Country Missions scheduled for March 2014. The Reference Group meetings were held from 23-25 March in Mozambique and 26-27 March in Zimbabwe among other things provided opportunities to exchange experiences, lessons, and challenges with the WACDEP team in Mozambique on WACDEP implementation and generate perspectives for enhancing progress in all components of the programme.
GWP has been requested by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) to support the preparations for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan. With inputs from its partners, GWP led the development of a brief on Water and Disaster Risk.
The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) hosted the 7th Technical Coordination workshop of the Water, Climate and Development Program (WACDEP) from Monday 5th October to Wednesday 7th October, 2015 at the La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra. The purpose of the meeting was to share progress, approaches and lessons learnt in delivering the WACDEP outputs in the 8 countries rolling out the program. It also served as a platform to discuss the key constraints and opportunities identified during implementation, and set the stage for scaling up WACDEP implementation.
