Madrid, Spain – At a high-level event on December 7 here at the global climate conference, Global Water Partnership (GWP) will launch a report identifying major opportunities for water management to accelerate climate action and sustainable development.
World Toilet Day, celebrated on 19 November every year, is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which promises sanitation for all by 2030. In a Facebook Live interview, GWP Senior Water Resources Management Specialist Ranu Sinha shares her experience on what it takes to end open defecation – and that building toilets isn’t always enough.
In 2014, GWP and UNICEF established a strategic partnership to work on climate resilience and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). The collaboration resulted in a Strategic Framework and a range of technical briefs and guidance notes to support the implementation of the Framework. In February 2018, a website was launched with the knowledge products. Since then, they have become among the most downloaded publications with GWP involvement. To mark World Toilet Day 2019 (19 November), which has a strong link to WASH, GWP followed up on the use of the material.
Meet Kareem Hassan, an international innovation expert, sustainability entrepreneur, Director of Youth and Innovation at the Global Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (GIWEH), and Managing Director of BENAA Foundation, which aims to build the capacities of youth in order to build up sustainable WASH projects in Egypt.
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.
