GWP-Med, representing on occasion also GWP, has been contributing to the OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI)[1] since its launch in 2013. In this framework, GWP-Med participated in the 7th meeting of the WGI held on 23-24 June 2016, in The Hague, the Netherlands. The meeting brought together some 80 representatives of organizations and institutions, members to the Initiative.
The GEF Drin Project ‘Enabling transboundary cooperation and integrated water resources management in the extended Drin River Basin’ [1] organized its 1st capacity building workshop on “Transboundary Water Cooperation and International Water Law” in Athens, on 14-15 June.
The 3rd Regional Alumni Workshop in the framework of the Sida funded and Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled programme ‘Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region’[1] was organized by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in collaboration with Al Akhawayn University, on 23-26 May 2016, in Ifrane, Morocco.
The studies on "Identification of national development priorities on the Mékrou basin in Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger were validated after comments made by the consultant were discussed and taken into account by national consultants.
The Benin Youth Parliament for Water established on April 2, 2015, had its first general meeting to take stock of their activities of the first year, to evaluate the implementation of the 2015-2016 work plan, and then develop the plan for 2016-2017.
Since 2015, the Country Water Partnership of Benin (Benin CWP) initiated with the support of the Water Integrity Network (WIN) the development of a charter for good governance in the frame of the Multiannual Programme for the promotion of integrity in the area of water and sanitation in Benin. A working group with the support of a consultant led the drafting process of the Charter. From October 2015 to date, the Charter was developed, and stakeholders were consulted on its contents as well as its operationalization mechanism that was also developed.
Many participants from West African countries took part in the International Water Law training in Kampala (Uganda) from 6 to 12 June 2016.
The implementation process of national and regional platforms on the Integrated Management of Drought is ongoing. Thus the regional core group as well as the national core group of Niger held their first meeting of 2016 respectively on Wednesday, June 15 in Ouagadougou and Wednesday 22 June in Niamey.
From 8 to 10 June 2016 the Mékrou Project Manager, in support to GWP-WA team represented by the WACDEP Programme Manager and IUCN participated in the Extraordinary Council of Ministers of the Volta Basin Authority held in Cotonou, Benin. The meeting allowed to introduce and adopt the concept note of the project developed jointly by IUCN and GWP-WA on "Conserving and restoring a functioning ecosystem in the Volta Basin." A resolution of the the VBA Council of Ministers was taken to adopt this initiative.
