GWP wants to learn from its Partners about their experience and engagement with the GWP network. With this in mind, GWP is working with Keystone, an independent organisation, which recently sent out a survey to all Partners. If you didn’t see it in your email, please check your spam folder! Deadline: 28 November 2019.
GWP is coordinating the work behind a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the topic of “Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security.” The MOOC, which is currently under development with Partners, is set to launch in 2020. While it is primarily targeted at practitioners and stakeholders, it is also open for all who are interested in these issues. You can already now sign up for the course.
Budapest Water Summit 2019 took place on 15-17 October, and GWP took the opportunity to ask youth about their experience with GWP. Joanna O’Keefe from Poland said that GWP introduced her to a completely new world: “I knew scientific conferences, but now I also get involved with policy making events and political events.”
In its new Strategy for 2020-2025, GWP has committed to “purposefully reach out to and mobilise youth groups and younger individuals to confront water resources management challenges”. This statement is based on a commitment that GWP made in 2015, in its Youth Engagement Strategy. Now, a very tangible outcome is being introduced – a close collaboration with GWP and youth organisations to make sure that the voices of youth are heard.
Sida, Sweden’s International Development Cooperation Agency, and one of GWP’s founding Partners, held its annual development forum on 14 October. This year, the event highlighted gender and the inequalities that still exist around the topic. This aligns with GWP’s Gender Strategy.
13 October marks the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. The day is centered around the seven targets of the Sendai Framework, and this year focuses on Target D: reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services. According to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) floods are the most common natural disaster with the largest impacts on society. GWP Senior Network Specialist Frederik Pischke says that there are great published insights that can help those in need to build resilience – online HelpDesks on flood & drought management offer practical support.
Under the SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme, GWP supports governments and other stakeholders to evaluate, diagnose and improve water governance policies. The aim is to accelerate implementation of SDG 6 and other water-related goals. Now the turn has come to Argentina, where a second phase underlines “identification of challenges and proposal of potential solutions”.
Coinciding with the UN’s Climate Action Summit in New York, GWP released a ‘sneak preview’ of impact stories from its Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP). The new publication, “Mobilising Change Makers”, are a collection that illustrate GWP’s water and climate resilience outcomes from 2011 to 2019, giving an overview of changes that have improved livelihoods and made communities more climate resilient.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has invited leaders to New York on 23 September for one week to boost ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. GWP will be present during the week and is calling on its network to participate in the climate strikes.
