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A presentation on Gender Mainstreaming in the SADC Water Sector was made during the 6^th RBO workshop held on 15-17 October, 2014 at Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa. GWP SA has facilitated the organization of the RBO workshops, which are aimed at enhancing and building the ability of the RBOs to prepare, respond and recover from water related impacts (flood and droughts) and build resilience to climate change within the RBOs through all aspects, including gender mainstreaming.

The GWP SA Consulting Partner’s (CP) meeting was held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 12-14 June 2013. The Consulting Partners Meeting is held every two years with the aim of engaging partners in discussions relating to network strengthening. Comprising a total of fifty participants, The CP meeting constituted GWPSA staff, 2 representatives from GWPSA’s Country Water Partnerships (CWPs), namely from ten countries: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; Members from GWPSA Steering Committee, and Regional Technical Committee; and representatives from GWPSA’s implementing partners were present on behalf of their agencies. These included CAPNET, and Chemonics and the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF).

Public institutions, Civil Society Organizations, Academia, Media and other national stakeholders from Water Sector, Agriculture and Energy discussed about key priority water issues that need to be incorporated in the next development agenda termed as Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

GWP SA is a member of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Gender Water and Development (GWD) Conference which will be held from 7-11 July 2014 in East London, South Africa. During the month of March 2014, the LOC reflected on the role of gender equality and how this can be prioritised as a mechanism for creating more equal societies and spurring development. Reflecting on the 2014 International Women’s Day Theme “Equality for Women is Progress for All”, The LOC resolved that this was a key message that needed to be rolled out as the world commemorated International Women’s Day, which fell on 8^th March.

Public institutions, Civil Society Organizations, Academia, Media and other national stakeholders from Water Sector, Agriculture and Energy discussed about key priority water issues that need to be incorporated in the next development agenda termed as Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

With natural water supplies no longer meeting the growing demand in several countries throughout the region, non-conventional water resources, such as treated wastewater reuse and desalination, are increasingly becoming an additional contributor to water availability. Related environmental, energy, health and other impacts need to be carefully considered while defining the potentials and limitations of such options. Improving non-conventional options demands better planning and regulation; coordinated investment; monitoring of operations; building managerial capacity; and, where relevant, mitigating their negative impacts including along the coastline. Overall, where development of non-conventional options is necessary, it should be combined with water demand management actions. In relation and beyond these, a strong demand for integrated urban water management, including through blue-green approaches and practices, has emerged.

The Global Water Partnership-Caribbean’s partner, the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) is seeking to recruit an Executive Director to be stationed at its Secretariat in St. Joseph, Trinidad.

GWP China addressed issues connected to climate change, flood control and use of rainwater in a workshop held in Baoding, in the Hebei Province, on 26-27 November 2013.

Two of the regional ‘sister networks’, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP-SA) and WaterNet held a regional knowledge exchange workshop from the 12^th to 13^th of August 2014 at Protea Edward Hotel in Durban, South Africa. The workshop was aimed at strengthening the partnership between the two networks in knowledge management and professional capacity development. The workshop addressed three critical issues: providing an overview of GWP’s Knowledge Management strategic thrust and the GWP IWRM Toolbox; strengthening the GWP-SA and WaterNet partnership on ‘research for development’; and building on professional capacity development.

The Intersectoral roundtable "Country Consultations on Water Speak to post-2015 Agenda" was held on 7 March 2014 in Dushanbe at the Institute of Water Problems, Energy and Environment of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. The roundtable was organized by CWP-Tajikistan jointly with the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan under support of GWP CACENA.