The official ceremony was chaired by the Minister of Forestry in Côte d'Ivoire represented by the Adviser on water issues, Mr. KADJO Adjoumane who noted in his speech the relevance of the workshop to equip media professionals for quality productions on the issue.
The representative of GWP-WA, Mr. Koffi Ndri, Chair of the Country Water Partnership (CWP) in Côte d'Ivoire, said that "good water management requires substantial funding well used but also human resources capable of implementing various development programs. » Speaking of the responsibilities of the parties, he noted that "If water is life, as it is said, to protect this resource is a collective and individual obligation which must be a duty of all countries and their inhabitants individually".
The representative of the Regional Director of the IUCN / PACO, Mr. Maxime Somda, said that "population pressure due to human activities and competition between different uses, climate change pose a threat to the resource and all other related issues of quantity and quality. Given this situation it is necessary to change patterns of resource management to preserve it and protect aquatic ecosystems. "
Communications made by experts have given the basic elements for a better understanding of the problem of water financing in the region. The discussions revealed that major challenges remain on the aspect of resource protection in all countries of the region.
During the field visit and the panel discussion, local officials noted the difficulty of the local management of water financing, the application decrees in the context of decentralization related to the transfer of jurisdiction and especially resources have not yet developed. According to Mr. Yapi Lambert, former mayor of the municipality of Tiassalé (Northern Côte d'Ivoire), "The Millennium Development Goals will not be met" for the simple reason that the inhabitants of communes do not have access to drinking water and municipal authorities do not have the resources to do so”.
The meeting with the municipal authorities and community representatives of the urban district of Kumasi highlighted this very clearly. "Help the mayor to help us so that we have the water," suggested several representatives of populations during exchanges with reporters.
Water supply companies usually have a leasing agreement with the Government that allow them to collect, process and distribute water at rates set by the Government itself. In the example of Côte d'Ivoire, SODECI (Water Company Côte d'Ivoire) has a leasing contract that allows it to use the resource with all equipment that belongs to the State of Côte d'Ivoire, in principle managed by the Office National de l'Eau Potable (ONEP). The resource protection is the responsibility of the State. SODECI or municipalities are given no direct responsibilities in this area particularly in terms of funding to be invested in this area.
The workshop gave an opportunity to make a lot of great production in the media during the week in the participants' countries.
At the end of the meeting a 15-minute radio magazine focusing on the theme of the workshop was produced and several newspaper articles were written. They will be used in the Inf'eau magazine to be published by the organizers, GWP-WA and IUCN / PACO.
This workshop confirms the commitment of GWP-West Africa and IUCN / PACO to work to raise awareness of all stakeholders for behavior change through increased access to the right information. The participants unanimously welcomed the regional workshops of this kind because it allows them to train and have access to resource persons for future collection of information. They felt that this is an invaluable support to the media and they wished it could be sustained.
In the assessment of the workshop, it basically came out that:
- Participants unanimously praised the logistical organization of the workshop, the conduct of the synergy between IUCN and GWP, the good atmosphere in the group;
- Suggestions for formalizing the group into a regional network;
- Suggestions for sustainability by establishing a mentoring system will be to support those who have been trained for some time so that they support and contribute their expertise to other journalists to produce articles and programs quality;
- Ideas were issued for the presentation of concrete projects by journalists who wish to carry out various productions. These projects will be submitted to the organizations (IUCN and GWP) for support, either financial or technical as appropriate;
Strong recommendations for the continuation of the training of journalists in one form or another because without training, no expertise, and these annual meetings are great opportunities to keep the flame lit and remind everyone of their responsibilities.