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Addis Ababa, 18th – 19th May 2016

Staff from GWP’s 13 regions met for Regional Days in Stockholm, Sweden, on 9-12 May. The annual event is an opportunity to take stock of current and on-going matters in the network, and to plan for the year ahead. Coinciding with this, GWP’s Network Meeting was held, and broadcast live on Facebook.

Sustainable Water Integrated Management – Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM), the largest water-related regional project supported by the European Commission (EC) during 2010-2015, successfully concluded its phase I, and held its Final Steering Committee (SC) Meeting in Luxembourg, on the 25^th of November. With a budget of 7.7 million Euros, the project was implemented in nine south Mediterranean countries[1] by a consortium led by LDK and with GWP-Med as the project technical director.

This year’s World Water Day theme is “Water and Sustainable Development”. Preparatory work for celebrating the day is underway in several countries, with the main UN celebration taking place in New Delhi, India, on 20 March. Building up to the event, GWP’s #watergoal campaign has been stepped up.

The 2nd Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project “Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector” was organised on 5-6 December 2016, in Tunis, Tunisia, by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the H2020 Pollution Reduction & Prevention Investment Group (PRPI) & National Action Plan process. It convened more than 110 decision makers and representatives of government, civil society, international organisations, donors and financing institutions and the private sector.

The 2nd Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project “Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector” was organised on 5-6 December 2016, in Tunis, Tunisia, by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the H2020 Pollution Reduction & Prevention Investment Group (PRPI) & National Action Plan process. It convened more than 110 decision makers and representatives of government, civil society, international organisations, donors and financing institutions and the private sector.

GWP launched its new Youth Engagement Strategy at Stockholm World Water Week on 25 August. The youth strategy supports the wider GWP “Towards 2020” Strategy as does the GWP Gender Strategy, which was launched in August 2014. 

2016 marks 20 years since Global Water Partnership began its commitment to help governments take a cross-sectoral approach to water resources management.

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) staff in Zimbabwe attended World Water Day commemorations organised by Mukuvisi Woodlands Nature Reserve and Environment Centre incorporating the Eco Schools Environment Education Programme. The event was funded by the 3^rd European Union Water Facility Programme in Zimbabwe and  was held at Darwendale/Manyame Dam on the 25^th of March 2015. Apart from GWP, the event attracted 449 children and 74 teachers from 27 schools and 13 other organisations which included  the European Union (EU),Environment Africa (EA), Wildlife Conservation, Practical Action, Upper Manyame Sub Catchment Council (UMSCC) and National Parks.

Lebanon and Jordan are exploring the possibility of joining the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). To assist the two countries in this process, UNECE and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), with financial support provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), have organised national workshops to increase awareness and understanding of relevant stakeholders of the different legal and institutional frameworks for cooperation on shared waters resources, the specificities of the UNECE Water Convention, in comparison to the UN Watercourses Convention, as well as the complementarity of the two agreements.