Knowledge & Learning

As the world faces the challenges of climate change, population growth, and urbanisation, the 2022 GWP Network Meeting of Partners centred around the question, “how can we push innovation in water?” GWP’s Executive Secretary and CEO Darío Soto-Abril noted that the emphasis on innovation was a continuation of last year’s Network Meeting theme, “because we recognise that change and innovation do not happen overnight – they require sustained attention”. More than 320 participants from 95 countries joined the two-day hybrid event, which was opened by GWP Chair Howard Bamsey who reviewed key accomplishments in 2022, which he described as “a year of achievement for GWP.”

Participants could choose one of five breakout sessions to talk with regional and global GWP focal points and other GWP Partners about how to implement and spread innovative practices in the water sector. The goal was to put forward actionable recommendations to GWP leadership.

The redeveloped IWRM Action Hub was launched in 2022 at the World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. The IWRM Action Hub is a global knowledge platform that supports actors to implement IWRM, share knowledge and expertise about their implementation experiences, and bring relevant stakeholders together to improve the way water is managed around the world.

The platform currently hosts 13 active communities of practice which were developed throughout 2022 with a range of partners with the aim of exchanging best practice, connecting stakeholders, and facilitating discussion.

Built on different tools and using multiple features of the Action Hub, Learning Labs were organised in Armenia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Nicaragua, Sao Tome, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan. In each country, the Learning Labs were tailored to the needs of participants and designed to strengthen their contribution to better water management.

The GWP Technical Committee contributes to global knowledge and advocacy on IWRM – supporting capacity building and implementation throughout the GWP Network.

In 2022, the Technical Committee undertook the following priorities:

1. A vision/framework for future GWP positioning and advocacy: how can the risks faced in today’s world be addressed better with IWRM? During Stockholm World Water Week, The Technical Committee convened a virtual discussion on the interrelationships between global transitions in urbanisation, energy and climate with IWRM. The concepts will be further developed through a series of seminars, blogs and articles
2. Innovations with the private sector: following the GWP Innovations Working Group recommendations and based on the lessons of the 2020 ChangeMaker Awards, the Technical Committee is supporting the next GWP Water ChangeMaker Awards for matchmaking between private sector finance and water innovations
3. Scaling up: the Technical Committee continued to support scaling up knowledge, innovation, and capacity building. Among the Technical Committee engagements includes the global launch and implementation of the IWRM Action Hub advisory group and Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) – GWP’s flagship programme to support a USD 30 billion investment in Africa’s water sector.

One of the main objectives of the collaboration is to increasingly utilise Cap-Net’s capacity development expertise to implement the training components of the GWP regional and country work programmes.

Collaboration examples in 2022 included:

• Joint organisation of the National Symposium for Learning Exchange in Community Water Supply Schemes in Sri Lanka
• Organisation of the International Online Training “Preparation of Shift Flow Diagrams (SFDs) for Caribbean Countries”
• Finalisation of the SDG indicator 6.6.1 pilot project on integrating freshwater data into sector-wide decision-making to improve the protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems by the Cap-Net networks and GWP Country Water Partnerships in Argentina, Kenya, and Kazakhstan. A training manual is available in English or Spanish
• Launch of the second edition of Gender and Integrated Water Resources Management online course where Cap-Net networks and GWP regions participated and joined the Gender and Water Resources Management community of practice, hosted on the IWRM Action Hub, to share lessons learned and experiences.