The Masungi Georeserve was announced winners of the Water ChangeMaker Awards in a ceremony at the Climate Adaptation Summit on 25 January. Their project is about restoring forgotten watersheds through youth-led movements. In a Facebook Live session on 4 March, Billie Dumaliang, representing the winning team, encouraged youth to be brave and creative, and to work together when tackling their climate challenges.
The Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government have formally adopted the progressive Continental Africa Water Investment Program (AIP), during its 34th Ordinary Session, held on 7th February in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
GWP and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) launched a new Perspectives Paper, “Storing Water: A new integrated approach for resilient development." The launch took place in a webinar on 24 February, gathering about 300 people for what is to be the start of a broad cross-sector dialogue on water storage.
GWP and Wuhan International Water Law Academy are co-organisers of a 6-part series called the "Transboundary Freshwater Security Governance Train." The second session took place on 16 February on “Ecosystems, International Law, and Transboundary Water Cooperation”. The event gathered over 100 participants, led by a panel of international experts who agreed that ecosystems protection has been gaining increased political acceptance and technical understanding in recent years.
2020 proved to be a difficult year for people worldwide, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cascading effects this brought to every aspect of life, both personal and professional. While 2021 may not seem that different to 2020, there are glimmers of hope that show a light at the end of a dark tunnel. In the ongoing collaboration on youth stories between GWP and the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW), we asked young people what gives them hope in 2021.
GWP is coordinating the formulation of a Water Resources Strategy and Action Plan for the Nacaome, Choluteca and Sampile river basins in the Gulf of Fonseca region in Honduras. The Strategy was validated in a series of workshops in December and January and is expected to be finalized during the month of March 2021.
In a series of inter-regional discussions, GWP Senior Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist Liza Debevec is investigating what GWP as an institution can do to apply gender equality and social inclusion in its practical work. From the GWP Gender Action Piece, published in 2017, she looks at the 4 action areas that were identified as key to progress. This month, she talked to Colin Herron and Fabiola Tábora about Action Area 2 – gender and inclusion analysis that drives change. Both Herron and Tábora are involved in finalizing complementary gender analyses in their respective areas of expertise – global and regional (Central America) – and they discuss how to use the findings to transform water resources management through gender mainstreaming.
GWP organised an online peer-to-peer learning exchange with leaders from its country platforms on 21 January. The event focused on how to mobilise and engage for stronger Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) and other GWP country platforms to amplify GWP's impact. It was also the launch event in a year-long celebration of GWP's 25th Anniversary.
In 2021, GWP and Wuhan International Water Law Academy are co-organising a series of events under the topic "transboundary freshwater security governance train." The first session took place on 19 January focusing on “Transboundary Water Agreements”. Over 80 people worldwide participated, and over 120 questions were submitted ahead of the event – even more during the live session, showing a strong interest in the topic.
