A validation workshop was held on 19 and 20 February 2015 in Niamey, Niger for the validation of three studies carried out in December 2014. The first one was on the national consultation on the objectives and methodology of the Mekrou project, the second one on the institutional participatory diagnosis and the third one on the assessment of existing capacities and the needs for capacity building for knowlegde management organizations in the country.

1. Mekrou Project is studying the impact on the W Park
A study is being carried by the Country Water Partnership of Benin to collect ecnomic data on the visitors of the W Park that covers part of the Mekrou Basin. The assessment is initiated by the Joint Research Center (JCR) with the support of GWP West Africa.

The Executive Secretary, Dam MOGBANTE and the Mekrou Project Manager, Corneille AHOUANSOU met the Executive Secretary of the Niger Basin Authority in Niamey. The meeting aimed at get the NBA to record the Mekrou Project in the agenda of their Ministerial Council to be held at the end of the year for the signature of the Framework and mechanism for cooperation. The NBA ES showed readiness to collaborate with GWP-WAF on various initiatives.

GWP West Africa and the Country Water Partnership (CWP) of Burkina Faso animated a booth during the first forum on water and sanitation in Ouagadougou from 12 to 14 February 2015. The event took place around the topic : "permanent access for all to water and sanitation by 2030: Strategies, concrete solutions and commitments of relevant parties".

The IDMP WAF has launched a consultation to recruit national experts in the project countries (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) to review drought management ongoing initiatives in each country.

The IDMP Project officer met also a delegation from the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) to discuss area of collaboration mainly on the possiblity of carrying out the identification of microproject for demonstration in Burkina Faso. DHI is already working on inundation and drought management tools in the Volta Basin and the collaboration could build on this intiative.

GWP WAF took part in ECOWAS Water Resources Coordination Center’s launching workshop of the project for the establishment of the regional water observatory of ECOWAS. This project aims to contribute to the improvement of the performance of the water sector through the operationalization of the Centre for Water and strengthening the capacity of actors. The occasion was also seized for information on the ADB funding procedures. GWP / WA could be a partner in the implementation of certain project actions. GWP WAF was represented by Ms Félicité Chabi-Gonni Epse VODOUNHESSI, IDMP WAF Project Manager

The Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) has organised the fourth and fifth Modules of the Capacity Development programme under WACDEP. The training sessions were held at Erata Hotel and Water Resources Commission (WRC), respectively in Accra from 16th to 19th February, 2015. The themes were "Monitoring and Moving Forwards" for the 4th Module and "Wrapping Up and Lessons Learned" for the 5th Module.

In collaboration with the White Volta Basin Office of the Water Resources Commission (WRC), the Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) has carried out the validation workshop for the report of the study on "Socio economic and environmental analysis and Logical framework development of field interventions for building community resilience in the White Volta River Basin".

The Project Management Unit of WACDEP organised the 6th Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting on 12th February, 2015. The meeting was held at the conference room of the Water Resources Commission under the chairmanship of Nii Boi Ayibotele.

The international Institute for Water Engineering and Environment (2IE) in collaboration with DHI organized a training session on Integrated Water Resources Management and Environment. The training took place from 9 to 20 February 2015 in Ouagadougou for participants from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. As it has become an habit GWP West Africa was asked to make a communication on its activities and knowledge products to the participants.