A five day regional Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop with objective to “develop the capacity of stakeholders to better appreciate the impacts of climate change on water resources, and the ability to use the IWRM approach as a tool for climate change adaptation” was organized in Kinshasa from 12th -16th May 2014. The training was implemented by the Congo Basin Network for Research and Capacity Building in Water (CB-HYDRONET) with financial and technical support from CAP-NET, WATERNET, the Water and Climate Development Program (WACDEP) in GWP Central Africa and Southern Africa, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), University of Kinshasa and the DRC Ministry of Environment.
The 11th edition of the Festival on the Niger was held from 4 to 8 February 2015 in Segou, Mali. This cultural event on the Niger River has become one of the flagship events of Mali. The theme for this year was "Culture and Employment: What cultural industry for Africa?». The night of the balafon, Festival on the Niger over the river, cultural caravan for peace, concerts on the river, the Segou symposium, professional artistic encounters, visual arts, theater and dance, international fair of Segou, Boromo of puppets Burkina Faso and the assistance of culinary art. These were the main activities that marked this event.
A five day regional Training of Trainers workshop with the objective to “developing the capacity of stakeholders to better appreciate the impacts of climate change on water resources, and the ability to use the IWRM approach as a tool for climate change adaptation” was organized in Kinshasa from 12th -16th May 2014.
The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) has organised the fourth and fifth Modules of the Capacity Development programme under WACDEP. The training sessions were held at Erata Hotel and Water Resources Commission (WRC), respectively in Accra from 16th to 19th February, 2015. The themes were "Monitoring and Moving Forwards" for the 4th Module and "Wrapping Up and Lessons Learned" for the 5th Module.
Poor management and planning during the construction of the Bargi Dam created severe social issues. The affected people took action by coming together forming a Union, making demands for fishing rights and protesting against the complete filling up of the dam. These demands were eventually met. This case illustrates the need for proper dialogue and participation with the affected people during the plan stage of any development projects to prevent problems during execution.
A special day session was organized on May 5, 2015 just before the Partners meeting held on 7 and 8 May 2015 in Cotonou, Benin. The session aimed at all the representatives of Country Water Partnerships (CWP) invited for the Assembly of Partners but focused mainly on countries where the three projects are being carried out: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Niger.
There were concerns that Lake Arenal in Northern Costa Rica was threatened due to problems of deforestation and possible premature sedimentation, leading the government to take action, resulting in successful national and local benefits in terms of energy produced and area irrigated. The most important lesson learned is the importance of consulting all parties involved before initiating the project to achieve the best result.
Due to the growing build-up area and changing land use in the Veluwe nature conservation area, the old water management infrastructure no longer coped. Action was thus taken and the traditional technical solution was replaced by a new integrated approach, which combines nature and landscape conservancy with modern water management. This case highlights the importance of utilising inhabitants’ knowledge when drafting new projects.
GWP CACENA Regional Council Meeting was held on 23-25 December 2013 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Regional Council Members considered the following main five items:
- Joining the Country Water Partnership of Mongolia into GWP CACENA network;
- GWP CACENA regional work program and budget for 2014;
- GWP CACENA Calendar of Events for 2014;
- Climate Change Adaptation Program for the period 2013-2015 (funded by GWPO);
- Organizational issues.
Country Water Partnership of Armenia jointly with its partner - JINJ Engineering-Consulting Company organized a two-day National Workshop "Alternative Approaches for Urban Wastewater Treatment" on 16-17 October, 2014 in the Best Western Hotel in Aghveran, Armenia under financial support of GWP Secretariat, CJSC “Yerevan Djur” and CJSC “Armenian Water and Sewerage”.