The Establishment Agreement signed between GWP-WA and the Government of Burkina Faso expired on June 27, 2018. In the process of renewing the agreement before its expiry date, the GWP-WA Executive Secretariat was confronted with, among other things:
- the ongoing implementation of a new framework for the establishment agreement by the Non-Governmental Organizations Monitoring Department (DSONG);
- the situation according to which the GWP-WA does not have an administrative act authorizing it to operate in Burkina Faso, but a receipt issued in principle to national associations;
- the absence, according to the Directorate General of Public Freedoms and Political Affairs (DGLPAP) of the minutes of the Extraordinary General Assembly (EAP) of GWP-WA giving mandate to the Chair together with the support of the Executive Secretariat to renew the Partnership's receipt.
The discussions that followed the explanatory statement focused on:
- The request made to the Chair of the GWP-WA, together with the Regional Executive Secretariat, to initiate and expeditiously complete the procedures for the renewal of the receipt with the support of the authorities of Burkina Faso and the GWPO Secretariat;
- The urgent need to obtain from the Burkina Faso authorities a Headquarters Agreement, in place of the status of a National Association, for GWP-WA as a Sub-Regional Organization for West Africa or as the GWPO Intergovernmental Organization’s Representative in West Africa.
Thus, the partners gathered in an Extraordinary Assembly gave mandate to the Chair, with the support of the Executive Secretary, to continue the process of obtaining all the necessary legal documents. They commended the Burkinabe authorities for their support and asked them to facilitate the process of granting a Headquarters Agreement to GWP-WA in Burkina Faso and thanked GWPO in Stockholm for their renewed support and requested them to support the initiation and completion of the process of requesting a Headquarters Agreement to GWP-WA in Burkina Faso.
Regarding the development process of the new GWP strategy, GWP-WA partners, after analyzing the 10 questions asked, identified four key areas on which further reflection should take place. These include:
- The need to rethink GWP's ambition at different levels of intervention (global, regional, cross-border, national and local) while ensuring that the necessary resources are effectively put in place to produce the expected impact at each level;
- The role of GWP in processes influenced and/or supported while ensuring that it provides specific added value to other actors and intervention partners, in helping to ensure consideration of cross-cutting aspects as well as gender equity, strengthening partnerships and intersectoral linkages;
- The private sector engagement in the water sector development that takes into account environmental concerns, the need to ensure the sustainability of water resources, gender equity, the social objective of water, water integrity and good governance;
- The role of the GWP network as a lever for innovative water management and development for economic growth, shared prosperity, water conflict reduction and poverty reduction.
The extraordinary meeting was attended by partners from West African States, international and regional organizations, basin organizations, private sector, NGOs, Country water partnerships (CWPs), resource persons, the Technical Committee of Experts and the staff of the GWP-WA Executive Secretariat.
According to the GWP-WA statutes, the Assembly of Partners sets the strategic orientations and defines the Partnership's policy and meets every two years in ordinary session upon convocation by the Chair and, if necessary, in extraordinary session.
