March 22 marks World Water Day 2017. This year’s theme is wastewater. GWP has published two blogs about the theme, and conducted a Facebook Live interview with Rami Abdel Rahman of the Sweden Textile Water Initiative. Around the GWP Network, various celebrations are taking place. However, the main GWP celebration this year concerns the very website you are currently on – the launch of a completely new www.gwp.org.

GWP and AMCOW – the African Ministers’ Council on Water – have been working together for over a decade. AMCOW Executive Secretary Dr Canisius Kanangire recently visited the GWP secretariat in Stockholm to discuss current and future collaboration. Dr Kanangire says that GWP has a lot of knowledge, experience, and expertise that can support AMCOW to reach results in many aspects of water resources management.

Coinciding with World Water Day, 22 March, GWP is launching a brand-new website – in 14 editions! Every GWP region (13 in total) has its own regional website, plus the global website www.gwp.org tying them all together. This hasn’t changed, but in addition to a new responsive look and design, the big makeover lies in new search functions for knowledge, news, events, and partners, as well as more highlighting GWP’s results. We strive for easy and quick access.

The Central America region is generously endowed with water resources, but concerns are growing about water scarcity in parts of the region. This can mean both a physical lack of water and a lack of mechanisms and actions for effectively managing, allocating, and developing water resources. A new GWP Technical Focus Paper focuses on these issues.

The Ministry in charge of water resources in Cameroon organized a workshop in collaboration with UNICEF Cameroon to formally launch the process of elaborating a National Water Policy. The workshop was held in Yaoundé on 20 February, and brought together key stakeholders of the water sector in Cameroon.

India Water Partnership (IWP) in association with one of its network partners SM Sehgal Foundation supported by CAWST (Canada) organised a four day workshop-cum-training programme from 28 February to 3 March 2017 in Samastipur District of Bihar, India on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS). The workshop raised awareness on issues around WASH and possible solutions and built capacities of the participants on HWTS. It assisted in establishing a stronger water network in Bihar by also including activists involved in other programmes.

On the occasion of the 2017 International Women’s Day, and drawing on the global theme for this year: Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality, GWP-Med has asked women water champions from the Mediterranean water community to reflect on: How can the water sector step it up for gender equality?

“Thinking of pastoral care and water policies may sound farfetched for water managers and civil engineers with whom I spend a professional life – but not so. The ways we discuss water policy decisions often closely mirror broader social and ethical decisions.” GWP Technical Committee Chair Jerome Delli Priscoli recently addressed experts from around the world in a workshop at the Pontifical Academy of Science in the Vatican City.

The Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) works to support Caribbean countries in the sustainable development and management of their water resources. Since being established in 2004, the regional organisation has been hosted by its long-standing Partner, the National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST), in Trinidad.