GWP held its annual Regional Days meeting on 1-4 June. The virtual event set a record in numbers, with over 120 GWP participants worldwide. While the main purpose is to have a shared understanding of GWP priorities and approaches, one of the highlights this year was the ‘virtual signing’ of a grant agreement between GWP and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on readiness support to the Zambia National Adaptation Plan (NAP).

Every year, all GWP Regions meet to brainstorm, share knowledge and learn about current challenges and future opportunities for the network at the annual regional days. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, this year’s regional days was held virtually for a period of four days, starting June 1st with over 100 participants at the opening plenary chaired by the outgoing Executive Secretary (ES), Monika Weber-Fahr . All regions were fully represented including GWP-CAf which was represented by the Regional Chair, Regional coordinator, as well as the Finance and Communications officers.

GWP Cameroon and its partners have trained women leaders in the Meri District, Northern Cameroon on community sensitization on fluorosis and its health impacts. The aim was to help change mentalities and break stereotypes related to dental fluorosis. An evaluation shows that the training and the activities of the women leaders has had a positive impact on the community's perception of the disease. The approach also created momentum for awareness activities in the entire Mayo Tsanaga River Basin.

Liza Debevec joined the global GWP secretariat in May 2020 as Senior Gender & Water Specialist. This is the first time GWP has a full-time person dedicated to gender, and Liza’s task will be to operationalize the gender dimensions of GWP's 2020-2025 Strategy, and more specifically the GWP Gender Strategy and Gender Action Piece. In this Q&A interview, Liza shares thoughts on her new role: “The biggest gender and social inclusion challenge in every sector, not just in water resources management, is that of access, or the lack of access to relevant resources that women and vulnerable communities face.”

For the second part in our series of partners speaking about why their communities should submit their change journeys to the Water ChangeMaker Awards, we spoke with WaterAid’s Dr Virginia Newton-Lewis, Director of Policy and Advocacy at WaterAid Sweden, highlighting the role of the WASH community.

April 6, 2020 – As of today, the Water ChangeMaker Awards is inviting submissions from those who have shaped water decisions that have helped build climate resilience. Submissions close on 7 June 2020.

On 22 March 2020 (World Water Day) GWP and Partners launched the ChangeMakers Award - a global competition that celebrates transformative changes towards a water secure world.

The Water ChangeMaker Awards are a new initiative that seeks to highlight experiences in the way water decisions have built climate resilience. The initiative was launched on World Water Day 2020, March 22.

“It began with passion and learning. When I was young, I wanted to be an engineer and then I wanted to teach. Putting these two interests together, I became a university teacher specialized in water resources engineering.” This is how Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein’s professional journey with water started. Now, 42 years later and many experiences richer, she shares her career story in celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD2020).

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year. The theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is, I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights. The theme is aligned with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generation Equality, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. On the eve of celebrating, we asked women in the GWP CACENA network to tell us their journeys to become a woman leader in the water sector and how we can collectively tackle the unfinished business of empowering all women and girls in the years to come. The personal stories of GWP women professionals are different, amazing and can inspire everybody.