News and Activities

The Valuation of Ecosystem Services of Lake Ohrid, under the GEF Drin Project, was one of the key inputs informing the development of the Lake Ohrid Watershed Management Plan, now approved by the responsible authorities of Albania and North Macedonia.

A virtual Launching event for our publication Empowering Women in Water Diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa: A Comparative Study of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine will be held on Monday, 15 March 2021, 13:00-15:00 CET.

Twenty-five years ago, the European Union and the Southern Mediterranean partners committed to turning the Mediterranean basin into an area of dialogue, exchange and cooperation, guaranteeing peace, stability and prosperity. The 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration reminds us that a strengthened Mediterranean partnership remains a strategic imperative for the European Union, as the challenges the region continues to face require a common response. Recognising growing interdependences, the new Agenda for the Mediterranean aspires to turn common challenges into opportunities, in a mutual interest approach. Servicing these, regional cooperation efforts will continue, with the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) as a focal point, supporting sub-regional and inter-regional cooperation, including with African partners, and joint initiatives between partner countries across the board.

On the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March, we asked 3 young female water professionals from the MENA region to share their own experience about the role of Women in Water Diplomacy, obtacles to their empowerment and what is needed in order to utilise their potential to be catalysts for peace.

Responding to the demand expressed by Mediterranean countries to accelerate access to GCF opportunities for adaptation projects, the 2nd Technical Workshop on GCF Project Preparation for Transformational Cli-mate Resilience Water Projects in the Mediterranean, with emphasis on Gender objectives and require-ments, was organised online, on Thursday, 11 February 2021, 09:30-12:30 CET.

An online Learning workshop on Gender Equality (GE) and Sustainable Development in the Drin basin took place on 21 December 2020 with the participation of more than 55 representatives from gender related institutions, academia, civil society, youth activists and media from Albania, Kosovo* , Montenegro and North Macedonia.