The farmers in the Volta river basin generally rely on rain-fed agriculture. However, insufficient or irregular rainfall frequently puts farmers at risk of losing their crops. Farmers must have access to a reliable water supply to sustain their livelihoods. In line with the problems highlighted, the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) set out to find ways to strengthen the capacity of the famers, communities and other stake holders in the basin. As a lesson learnt, it is reasonable to expect stakeholders to adopt improved agricultural practices if such new practices are of their own benefit. Experiences show that stakeholders will only participate in innovation platform meetings when they see the value of doing so.
A meeting was held on October 27, 2015 in the conference room of GWP West Africa to discuss issues related to the establishment of the regional platform for stakeholders on drought management in the region. During this second meeting a presentation was made on various tools that could be used to ease communication between members of the platform before and when it is set up. Among these tools were social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), Google communication tools, Yammer, etc.
The ECOWAS Water Resources Coordination Center and IUCN have organized on 1 and 2 October 2015 in Abidjan a national workshop on the dissemination and appropriation of the guidelines for the development of water infrastructure in West Africa. The workshop brought together twenty participants from the National Assembly, technical ministries and civil society, having a direct interest in the application of the guidelines. CWP Ivory Coast (PNECI) was represented by its Chair, Mr. Koffi N'DRI and KOUADIO Francis, the Executive Secretary.
The Office of the Prime Minster of Kosovo in cooperation with Global Water Partnership organized a National Drought Dialogue on 12 November 2014 in Pristina.
Global Water Partnership (GWP) welcomes the aspirational 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by Member States at the UN General Assembly on September 25, 2015. The transformational vision of the agenda is ambitious and will need an unwavering commitment on the part of everyone. GWP will play its part.
At the SADC Water Week in Mozambique held from 20-22 May, 2015, stakeholders discussed the challenging aspects of managing water resources in the country in view of Mozambique sharing a number of river basins with its neighbours. For instance, the supply of water for the river basins located in the southern part of the country is heavily dependent on the Basins of international rivers. The solution to this challenge was seen in Mozambique requiring to always adapt an integrated water resources management approach and having long-term cooperative arrangements with its neighbours to avoid water availability being a constraint on future growth.
‘Improving water governance for achieving financial sustainability in the Mediterranean’ was the topic of the event organised by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), within the ‘Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector’ project, during the World Water Week in Stockholm, on 25 August 2015. The event - closely related to this year’s theme on ‘Water for Development’ - focused on the needed pro-poor, inclusive and gender-sensitive actions for better governance and on the impact that this can have on the financial sustainability of the water sector leading to sustainable development.
The 7th World Water Forum was held from April 12 to 17, 2015 in South Korea. This event, which is now included in to the global sustainable development agenda has brought together thousands of participants from all continents of the world. Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) was represented by the WACDEP program Manager Mahamoudou TIEMTORE and Mrs. Felicite CHABI-GONNI Epse VODOUNHESSI IDMP Project Officer.