The training workshops facilitated by Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) are part of the "Volta Basin Strategic Action Plan Implementation Project", funded by the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the VBA through the World Bank.
The training workshops strengthened the capacity of participants representing CSOs, youth associations (both male and female) and local communities to plan and manage ecosystems in the Volta Basin.
The workshops helped to strengthen learners' capacities to plan and integrate eco-system approaches into programmes and projects for climate change adaptation in the Volta Basin. Thus, learners' capacities were strengthened to plan and implement activities for the maintenance and protection of river banks, to control and apply IWRM procedures and processes and sustainable wetlands management in the Volta Basin. They are now ready to transmit their knowledge and know-how to their communities.
The workshops focused on three themes, namely, theme 1 "Ecosystem restoration and protection for climate change adaptation in the Volta Basin" for capacity building of local institutional actors on sustainable ecosystem management in the Volta Basin; Thematic 2 "Riverbanks Maintenance" which aims to strengthen the capacities of local institutional actors on riverbank protection in the Volta Basin; and thematic 3 on "Wetland Protection and the IWRM Process" for capacity building of local institutional actors on sustainable wetland management and the IWRM process in the Volta Basin.
Field visits were carried out in each country in addition to a session devoted to the approach, tools and methods for transmitting knowledge and know-how to communities. Reflections were also held on the identification and implementation framework for ecosystem protection actions, the protection of gallery forests and wetlands in the Volta Basin. The results of these reflections will be used to draw up a consolidated action plan by 2021 for the whole basin, taking into account the specific characteristics of the national portions of the Volta basin.
