In Burkina a national workshop was organized in February to validate the National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change (NAP). This workshop brought together a hundred participants to review the final version of the NAP document that integrated the amendments made by the workshop of April 1, 2014 including those on water security, water has been integrated as a cross cutting sector.
Right at the heart of Namibia, “the land of the brave”, in the capital Windhoek was the venue for the 7th SADC Multi- stakeholder Water Dialogue held from the 29th to the 30th of September, 2015. Held under the theme, “Watering Development in SADC: The central role of water in driving industrialization” the dialogue was attended by 150 delegates from across the region representing the water sector, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), cooperating and development partners, academia, the media, and other relevant stakeholders from non-water entities (energy, agriculture, industrialization). The delegates, of which a good number were youth were brought together to deliberate the role that water will play in driving industrialization in the region.
The GWP CACENA Regional Council Meeting was held on 3-7 August 2015 in Batumi, Georgia (Hotel Alik).
GWP Lithuania and GWP Poland successfully collaborated on a set of maps, a database and a video, to improve the management and protection of two transboundary rivers. The project brought together international experts from Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia.
The government of Lao PDR is working very constructively to improve the water resources planning and management system in Lao PDR especially in the formal higher education system.
Through the Lao Water Partnership, Mr. Chanthanet Boualapha, Director General of Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment who acts as chairperson of Lao Water Partnership opened the consultation on mainstreaming the IWRM in the formal higher education system. He expressed on the important of IWRM progress and application in Laos context for a decade as well as capacity building on this field. He also addressed the importance of the strengthening the local capacity in the whole country for IWRM decentralization and human resource development including emphasizing on integration and mainstreaming IWRM /IRBM approach into education system in each level.
The Swaziland Water Youth Forum is an entity under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, housed in the Department of Water Affairs. The forum was established during the SADC Water Week held in Swaziland last year. The forum has an action plan that includes raising awareness of the water sector among young people so as to enhance their participation in national development issues.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March), Global Water Partnership has interviewed women in the water community across the Network on their journey to become successful in their professions, how to overcome obstacles they face as women, and also recommendations to other women.