The Gambia officially launched a new Country Water Partnership (CWP) in 2011, joining the other 12 West African CWPs that have been formed since the beginning of GWP's activities in West Africa. Now, all countries in the region except Liberia and Sierra Leone have set up a CWP.
Following on the series of successful regional workshops on Water Financing carried out in 2009 and 2010 by GWP and the EUWI in South America, the international seminar, "Water and Environmental Sanitation Financing" was held in Porto Alegre on June 11, organized by GWP Brazil in partnership with ABES-RS, the Brazilian Association for Sanitation and Environmental Engineering. Its aim was to identify and promote ways of funding water resources management.
Michael Mutale from Zambia is the first ever winner of the UNESCO-IHE Alumni Award 2013. Mr. Mutale has been involved with GWP since its early days in 1996, and was instrumental in setting up many of GWP’s projects in Southern Africa.
Despite an almost abundance of water, most water users in the South-western region of Burkina Faso regularly face water shortages due to an intensification of irrigated agriculture. Action was consequently taken to set up the Local Water Committee. The lesson learnt is that in the realm of the water sector, it is crucial for the state, local authorities, civil society and the private sector to collaborate to find new potential solutions.
The Reventazon River Basin has been subjected to severe degradation, mainly through water pollution, leading to proliferation of disease, increased cost of drinking water, and endangered biodiversity. Action was taken by establishing the Committee for the Management and Planning of the Reventazon River Basin working with conservation and land management. The key lesson for success is the importance of the coordination of the different actors that deal with the basin management.
Rural and peri-urban areas are often neglected when making infrastructure investments. However, these areas could gain from treatment of domestic wastewater through the construction of wetlands. In Bulgaria, the problem of wastewater treatment was addressed through the construction of a wetland for treating wastewater from domestic sources. The lesson learnt is the importance of community initiatives.
A report on the GWP Side Event at World Water Day 2011, Cape Town, South Africa
The "Competing for Water" research programme investigates local water conflict and cooperation in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and analyzes the consequences for the poor.
The national meeting to validate and launch the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) in Ghana for ‘no/low’ regrets investments to increase access to water and sustainable development was held on 11th July, 2013 at Erata Hotel in Accra. The meeting was organised by the Ghana Country Water Partnership (G-CWP) in collaboration with the National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) of the Resource Centre Network under the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.