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On March 8th, 2015, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) which comprises of thirteen (13) Regional Water Partnerships including the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) by advocating for a #watergoal, which would mean major improvements in living conditions for women worldwide. GWP's Chair Ursula Schaefer-Preuss points out that there is a close connection between women and water.

A project focusing on safe water and sanitation in the Republic of Moldova won Category 2 of the Award.

A proper enabling environment establishes the rights and assets of all stakeholders (individuals as well as public and private sector organizations and companies, women as well as men, the poor as well as the better off), while ensuring for environmental quality. The enabling environment essentially consists of “rules of the game” that are laid out as to achieve a sustainable balance between the social, economic and environmental needs for water. These rules can be defined by the use of: (1) Policies; (2) Legislative Frameworks; and (3) Financing and Investment Structures.

In 2014, GWP Central America with key partners put into place five pilot projects that demonstrate that water security and IWRM are fundamental to adaptation to climate change. Two of the projects are already proving the point.

In Benin, water use has not been regulated. Furthermore, water management has been sector-based, fragmented and compartmentalised. To change this, action was taken to initiate IWRM in Benin. A baseline study was done followed by drafting of an IWRM action plan. From the experience, the lesson learnt is that advocacy for strengthening political will for supporting the process must be seen as a transversal and on-going action throughout the whole IWRM process.

Climate Change is expected to have severe impacts on river discharges and water quality and quantity. In an effort to proactively find solutions to the current and future challenges of water, the project Environmental state and sustainable management of Hungarian-Slovakian transboundary groundwater bodies was initiated. The key lesson is the importance of evaluating all resources, including the links between groundwater and surface water. 

The conclusions of a second round of national stakeholder consultations on water urge the global community to include a dedicated water goal within the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.

A three-day (3-5 August) Africa wide Training on International Water Law (IWL) for improved transboundary water management in Africa has concluded in Entebbe, Uganda. The training attracted 40 participants from 21 countries across the continent; mid- to high-level practitioners from River Basin Organizations (RBOs) and governments.