The 2nd Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project “Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector” was organised on 5-6 December 2016, in Tunis, Tunisia, by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the H2020 Pollution Reduction & Prevention Investment Group (PRPI) & National Action Plan process. It convened more than 110 decision makers and representatives of government, civil society, international organisations, donors and financing institutions and the private sector.

On 10 October in Slovenia a National Consultation Dialogue on Drought took place for a third time. The event was organised by the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO) and Global Water Partnership Slovenia in the framework of the Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe (IDMP CEE). 

This publication is part of the ‘Integrated Drought Management Tools and Guidelines Series’, compiled by the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP). This Handbook of Drought Indicators and Indices is based on available literature and draws findings from relevant works wherever possible. The handbook addresses the needs of practitioners and policymakers. The publication is considered as a resource guide/material for practitioners and not an academic paper. This publication is a ‘living document’ and will be updated based on the experiences of its readers. The indicators and indices detailed in chapter 7 of the handbook are also available online at www. droughtmanagement.info. IDMP encourages water managers and related experts engaged in the management of drought around the globe to participate in the enrichment of this publication.

GWP Eastern Africa (GWPEA) Regional Project Manager for IDMP attended the 1st Africa Drought Conference (ADC) that was held on 15-19 August 2016 in Windhoek, Namibia. The theme of the conference was “Enhancing resilience to drought events on the African Continent”. The conference was aimed at discussing ways by the participants (African Union states, UN agencies and other stakeholders) of enhancing resilience on the African continent

Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa in partnership with Nile IWRM Net/Cap-Net are organizing a training on applying Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) tools for Drought Risk Management. The training will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, 20-24 June 2016. It is open for a maximum of 30 participants from the Eastern Africa region.

The Regional Workshop on South-South Cooperation in Flood Management organised by GWPO and GWP China was held from 14 to 16 December 2015 in Guangdong, China.

GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss participated in the Sixth Meeting for High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) and the Second UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters in New York, USA, in November.

GWP and its partners, the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), hosted a High Level Panel on Water and Climate Change in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Paris on 2 December.

GWP Central and Eastern Europe is releasing today two short papers presenting the achievements of two demonstration projects within the Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe.

From 22- 23 October 2015, the Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa (GWPEA) conducted a regional workshop themed “ Role of the media in promoting water security, climate resilience and drought risk management”. The workshop was attended by 15 media practitioners from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti.