Water projects are six times more efficient when women are part of the team, and yet there are still massive gaps in employment of women within the water sector, particularly for jobs that are onsite or that require a strong science background. How can we help women colleagues join and stay in the water sector to ensure that water solutions are the best they can be and to help communities and the environment get the water they need to be resilient? On 22 September, Global Water Partnership, Community of Women in Water and World Bank Equal Aqua organise a virtual event on this topic.
The Consortium, comprising the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) and the Global Water Partnership in West Africa (GWP-WA), organized from 02 to 04 August 2021 in Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, the first of a series of eight (8) national training workshops on "Mainstreaming gender into the end-to-end early warning system for flood forecasting and integrated flood risk management in the Volta Basin”. This was followed by the holding of the Decision-makers' Day on Thursday, August 5, which focused on the same theme in Bobo Dioulasso.
A two-day national capacity building workshops on the development of flood and drought risk maps in the Volta Basin were held in each Volta basin country with the last one in Accra, Ghana on 5 and 6 July 2021.
GWP-WA together with IUCN-PACO and PREE project coordinating unit held an hybrid (part face to face and part virtually) Steering Committee meeting on 27 and 28 July, 2021.
We are happy to introduce the GWP Water Academy for Youth (W.A.Y.). The GWP W.A.Y. is an opportunity for young professionals to realise their potential in the water community, become influencers and leaders, create momentum with key actors, and enhance youth engagement and empowerment in water resources management. The first global activity is a joint GWP, CAP-NET, University of Andres/UNESCO online course, “From Learning to Leading: Beyond the ABCs of Youth, Water, and the SDGs.” Registration opens on 17 August and the course is free.
The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on transboundary freshwater security opened in August 2020. A year on, the MOOC has attracted over 2,300 participants from 150 countries, and the course is confirmed for another year on the same platform – with more language versions in the making to reach an even greater audience, and with more interactive events to engage participants. Chinese video subtitles are already available, and several other translations are under preparation.
The 5th edition of the Arab Water Forum is convened by the Arab Water Council on 21-23 September in Dubai, under the patronage of the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure and supported by the League of Arab States and the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Egypt, in collaboration with national, regional and international partners.
The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020 was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was rescheduled and it is instead taking place this year on 3-11 September. It will be a hybrid in-person and virtual event, with the aim to drive action on nature-based recovery, climate change and biodiversity.
