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 8th March.
There is a need for stakeholders to be organized, capacitated and empowered in order to be effectively involved in decision-making processes in the development and management of shared water resources, improved climate resilience, poverty alleviation and ensuring that water resources are secure. With that objective in mind, GWP SA through the Namibia Water Partnership conducted its first training workshop aimed at broadening stakeholder participation in Transboundary Water Resources Management in the Orange – Senqu basin.
The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) has held the validation meeting for the report on the study entitled “Review of National Policies, Strategies and Programmes in the context of Water Security and Climate Resilience in Ghana”. This was done in collaboration with the Water Resources Commission (WRC) and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
A secure water world is emerging as a top human development priority in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. But to truly deliver secure and sustainable water for all, policy makers need sound evidence connecting water security to economic growth and development.
The Ivorian government has initiated a study on the integration of the gender approach in the water sector in the Ivory Coast. The objective of the study is to make a thorough analysis of the integration of the gender approach in the water sector in the country.
Tanzania is facing increasing pressures on its water resources due to a growing agricultural sector and the effects of climate change. In order to ensure environmental and economic sustainability in the face of water scarcity the local communities of Kiroka village, Morogoro, conceived a project to build capacity for climate adaptation through sustainable land and water management. The participatory approach coupled with capacity building and holistic problem solving that also addresses livelihood issues has proven to be an effective method of implementing an IWRM plan that is sustainable and can be readily subscribed to.
The Dialogue on Water Resources Demand and Energy Development in the middle reaches of Yellow River organized by GWP China Yellow River, China Shenghua Group Company Ltd. and Yellow River Research Association with the support by GWP China was held on October 25, 2014, in Erduos, Inner Mongolia.
The 1st Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project “Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector” will be held on 28-30 October 2014, in Athens, Greece, in close collaboration with the EU funded “Sustainable Water Integrated Management - Support Mechanism” (SWIM-SM) project.
1. Ghana: WACDEP supports GWJN Way-forward exercise
CWP-Ghana/WACDEP has supported members of the Ghana WatSan Journalists Network (GWJN) to undertake a Field Exercise aimed at assessing residents’ access to portable water in some selected communities in Accra as part of activities marking the World Water Day. This is a Way forward activity of the Media Training that was carried out in September, 2014. There were about 20 participants drawn from the membership of the network including in the print, radio, online and television media. The activity was monitored by the Communications officer.