The workshop was inaugurated by Prof. Seifeldin Hamad Abdalla who introduced GWP, GWP EA and SWaP(Sudan Water Partnership) to the participants. He also highlighted the major achievements at the three levels: national, regional and worldwide. Major emphasis was put on the acquisition of the status of full accreditation by SWaP during the year 2017. Prof. Seifeldin also highlighted the importance of the workshop to assess the baseline in IWRM implementation in Sudan and to guide future developments to be achieved in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In addition to that Dr. Tarig El Gamri the national facilitator delivered a short presentation on the SDGs and the Development Agenda 2030. Special emphasis was given to SDG 6, the associated indicators, monitoring schemes and the custodians of each indicator. He also highlighted the role of GWP in achieving the SDGs’ and provided a comprehensive illustration on the questionnaire and the workshop.
Participants went through the questionnaire and held discussions to agree on responses to provide.
Key comments and recommendations from participants can be summarized as follows:
- Some sections of the questionnaire cover trans-boundary issues which are mainly covered under indicator 6.5.2 Trans-boundary basin area with an operational arrangements for water cooperation. Hence, further consultation with the working group in indicator 6.5.2 is advocated so as to avoid submission of contradicting national reports.
- Most participants complained from the complexity of the questionnaire; to overcome this hindrance a training module may be designed for the whole indicators of SDG 6. It’s worth noting that the process (assessment of national indicators) should be repeated every 3 years during the period 2015 – 2030 and hence training of some potential national facilitators will be an asset. The importance of such training may be further emphasized by the fact that only 33 countries around the globe were able to organize such consultation workshops (6.5.1).
- The ongoing revision of the National Water Policy as supported by JICA is recommended to include the development of a national IWRM Strategy and to review and expedite finalization and endorsement of the Draft National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy.
- Management at the hydrological units (watersheds and aquifers) needs to be supported.
- Development of state water policies and laws should be expedited in addition to that exiting laws should be fully aligned to IWRM.
- Level of implementation of Smart Water Management (SWM) e.g. use of smart pipes, sensors and the other should be clearly assessed by the questionnaire.