She then travelled to Ouagadougou for a 24 hour visit to meet GWP WA regional secretariat on June 24 and 25.
Two hours after she landed at 3PM, she was meeting and exchanging from 5 to 8 PM with the secretariat team, the CWP, some Steering Committee members including Youth representative, some partners including Volta Basin Authority (VBA), IUCN, National Directorate of Water, IRC and visiting WMO consultants working GWP WA to support VBA.
West Africa being a region where IWRM was formally adopted by ECOWAS since March 1998, some progress has been achieved by each country even though this varies according to countries. Burkina for example has made great advances but challenges still remain in providing water to all and also at knowing the real quantity as well as the quality of the available water resources.
The discussions were focused on the main IWRM related challenges of the region, the added value of GWP as well as the motivations of partners for joining the network.
On Monday 25 June, meetings were arranged with some partners including the acting director of IUCN Central and West Africa Office and his team, the Executive Director of the Volta Basin Authority and his team, the executive Director of the Inter State 
Comity for Combating Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) and his team, the Secretary General and Director of Cabinet of the Minister of Water and Sanitation.
All partners met have highlighted the important role GWP plays in the region as a platform and pointed out specific areas where joint actions been carried out. WACDEP as well as MEKROU PROJECT have helped strengthen transboundary issues and climate related aspects both at basin (VBA and NBA) and country levels. The IDMP, the Youth initiatives such as YourFutureYourClimate and the SDG support program are initiatives that are bring together partners in targeted countries including governments and civil society.
GWP needs to focus its actions to help governments have more visibility on their own progress and gaps by convening partners around their assessment of maturity of institutions, capacities, methods & tools. This needs to be done through strengthened Country Water Partnerships which can mobilize more civil society and other actors for dialogue and sharing.
The GWP ES visit in the region was much appreciated both by the Chair Professor Maiga who met her in Dakar before she travels to Ouagadougou and the Executive Secretary, Armand HOUANYE who expressed his readiness and desire to collaborate with her. Monika Weber-Fahr noticed also that we need to work for more diversity for which GWP will fund raise. To conclude on her trip to Ouagadougou, she said “I am grateful, hopeful and energized”.
