NEWS

GWP Central Africa (GWP-CAf) carried out a working visit to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) from 29 August to 01 September 2017 in Libreville, Gabon. The main objective of this visit was to strengthen collaboration between the two structures, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2017.

With the resumption of activities in Bangui and to facilitate the implementation of WACDEP in the country, the Country Water Partnership of the Central African Republic convene its statutory meetings, the Assembly of Partners and the Steering Committee on 17 August 2017 and 18 August. This CWP was set up in 2008 but remained relatively inactive due to the troubles the country has been facing. A new Steering Committee was put in place, and Mr. YAKENDE Rodrigue Prosper was elected as the new chair.

Pour accompagner ses partenaires et PNEs, le GWP CAf recrute un Chargé de Programme Assistant Régional qui sera basé au secrétariat régional du GWP-CAf à Yaoundé. Sous la responsabilité directe du Coordonnateur du Secrétariat Régional GWP-CAf, le/la Chargé de Programme Assistant aura pour tâches principales d’appuyer la mise en oeuvre et, la conception et le développement des « Projets et Programme », y compris le développement et la maintenance de partenariats stratégiques clés. Il appuie également à l’élaboration et le partage des produits de gestion des connaissances avec le réseau GWP et à l’identification de toute synergie avec d'autres projets du réseau GWP, en collaboration avec d'autres partenariats régionaux pour l'eau.

GWP Central Africa launched the Water, Climate and Development Program (WACDEP) in Sao Tome and Principe. The workshop was held on 4 July 2017 in the UNDP conference room and brought together some 40 people.

To support its partners and CWPs in their work, GWP CAf is recruiting a Regional Communications and Knowledge Management Officer to be based at the GWP-CAf regional secretariat in Yaoundé. Under the direct supervision of the Coordinator of GWP-CAf Regional Secretariat, the Regional Communications and Knowledge Management Officer will be responsible for ensuring the visibility of GWP-CAf actions and activities at different levels, as well as the organization and coordination of knowledge generated by the GWP-CAf and its partners.

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.

The GWP Cameroon hosted in Yaounde, the 8^th WACDEP Technical Coordination meeting from the 28-30^th September 2016.

 

Attendees to this regional meeting were the members of WACDEP Coordination Unit, regional and national WACDEP program Managers from the five Regions (GWP Med, GWP SA, GWP EA, GWP WAf and GWP CAf); the GWP-O Head of Program and the GWP-Cameroon Chair who led the GWP-CAf team.

 

The last technical coordination meeting held in Yaounde over three days had double main objectives. The first objective was to define the approaches for the regions and Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) to better handle the project document preparation process of WACDEP 2 and agree on the timelines of submitting the document to WACDEP Coordination Unit (WACDEP CU) for review. Therefore, two approaches were proposed with regards to the budget constraints: (a) to recruit a consultant for facilitating the process and (b) to constitute a team of experts of the WACDEP Technical Working Group (TWG) to develop the project documentation with a support from the WACDEP CU.

The second one was to agree on the roadmap for drafting the WACDEP (2011-2016) final report to submit it by 15 of October 2016.

The Youth associations of Cameroon selected by the COY Steering Committee to organize a Conference of Youth (COY) in Cameroon met on August 13^th, 2016 to agree on the preparation of the 12^th Local COY.

 

A total of 15 leaders from six Cameroon Youth associations such as Women In Development (WID), Association of African Students (AEA); Voices United To Serve Forest and Environment (USFE); Synergie/Action des Jeunes pour l'Encadrement et la Promotion des Hommes Complets (SAJEPHCO); GIC FOREDEV and YEMA actively took part in the consultation meeting  which was the second of its kind and held on preparations for the Local COY12.

 

The meeting aimed at gathering the views of stakeholders on the realism of the guidance document of the Local COY 12 and especially defining the strategy to tie up the final preparations for this global event in order to implement it at national level.

 

It also provided the framework for an exchange / experience sharing between participants on the previous COY.   GWP -CAf staff to provide them with advice on the development of projects related to climate and present them the vision and mission of GWP.

 

During this meeting, a brainstorming was done around the different activities likely to be part of the agenda of the event. There was among others a series of refresher training workshop on the ins and outs of COY12, then on the concept of climate change as well as the organization of power walk finally a panel discussion/conference on climate.

Within the framework of the celebration of the International Youth Day 2016 under the theme “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”, some leaders of Cameroon Youth organizations involved in protecting the environment launched on the 13^th of August the process of the establishment of a network entitled “Youth network for wetlands”.

This launching was made during a workshop on the approval of the logical framework document of the network.

 

The workshop itself was organized by Water For Life Cameroon with the support of GWP-CAf. It took place at the GWP-CAf Secretariat in Yaounde, Cameroon.

 

20 leaders from 10 youth organizations such as Water For Life Cameroon (W4L), Women In Development (WID), Jeunes Volontaires de l’Environnement (JVE), Centre de Recherche sur la Forêt et l’Environnement, Institut des Relations Internationales du Cameroun (IRIC), AJEVOH Cameroun, Cameroon Youth Initiative for Rural Development (CAMYIRD), Young Professional Platform for Agricultural Development (YPARD), United Voice to Serve Forest and Environment (USFE) attended the meeting.

 

During this meeting, Global Water Partnership Central Africa (GWP-CAf) shared its experiences on networking: GWP as a multi-players network with a vision and mission. This presentation aimed at strengthening the participants’ understanding of the structure and function of the network they wanted to establish in order to mutualize their effort in protecting the wetlands and underlining the benefits the communities will obtain from wetlands and also guiding youth leaders as a compass in networking.

Within the framework of developing a full project proposal on the establishment of an Early Warning System in the Lake Chad Basin area, GWP-CAf and LCBC organized a workshop on the approval of the inception report on the strategy for conducting the assignment, and the deliverables to be produced by the team of consultants, charged to produce a full-fledged project document.  The workshop was held from 11-12 of July 2016 in Ndjamena, Chad.

 

The attendees to this meeting were 8 experts (in hydrology, climate change) and 4 support staff from the LCBC executive secretariat, 3 experts from German Cooperation groundwater and climate change adaptation projects, the coordinator of the programme to rehabilitate and strengthen the resilience of lake chad basin systems (PRESIBALT), 2 representatives of GWP Central Africa, and the team of three recruited consultants (2 experts of PEGASYS from South Africa and 1 independent consultant from Chad).

 

The main objective of this meeting was to present, enrich and approve the inception report on the strategy for conducting the assignment, and the deliverables to be produced by the team of consultants. It was also an opportunity for consultants to meet, share their experiences and strengthen their collaboration.