The Regional Conference on ‘Water and Nature Conservation Knowledge Sharing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region’ was held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on 12-14 May 2015, by the EU-funded R-KNOW project, in collaboration with the MAVA Foundation, aiming to enhance knowledge sharing towards an agreement on outlines of regional strategies and action plans on water, as well as on climate change and nature conservation.
The Conference was structured around four thematic sessions, one of which on ‘Water Governance and Policy Influencing’ was coordinated and moderated by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med), containing targeted presentations from regional, national and local organisations and providing an interesting mixture of policy guidelines and concrete case studies from the ground. The Session involved a working group section that discussed and provided suggestions on a) the main current challenges/needs that water governance faces, b) the innovative solutions/opportunities to overcome challenges in water governance at national and regional level, c) the regional initiatives and actors addressing water governance that could see mutual benefits with the R-KNOW network.
During the discussions, the role and added value of GWP-Med’s work and network of partners in this process were widely recognised by the participants, notwithstanding through the implementation of the Sida-supported ‘Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector’ project and the Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region.
The latter held the 2nd Regional Training on Water Integrity for the MENA Region, on 9-10 May 2015, in Sharm El Sheikhm, Egypt, back to back with the Regional Conference RKNOW “Water and Nature Conservation - Knowledge Sharing in MENA Region”, and in cooperation with the Arab Integrated Water Resources Management Network (AWARENET), a Cap-Net UNDP affiliated regional network on capacity development in sustainable water management for the Arab region hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA).
With more than 20 participating stakeholders, this training followed a successful first regional training (Dead Sea, 14-15 January 2015) and enhanced the participants’ knowledge on the context and relevance of integrity in water management, as well as on methods to improve transparency, accountability and participation for more sustainable water governance. The key message of the training is that by promoting water integrity and fighting corruption in water management there can be a dramatic improvement in human dignity, health, nature and the equitable access to water, on a lasting basis, which in turn helps create a fertile ground for socio-economic development and investments.
This Regional Training is part of a series of workshops, specifically tailored for the MENA Region, as part of the Regional ‘Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region’ (WI MENA), with the overall objective to develop various stakeholders’ capacities for water integrity in the MENA Region, thereby improving transparency and accountability practices in water resources management. This series of trainings in particular aims at reaching out to the wider region, beyond the Programme’s five pilot countries and specific target groups.