New chair visits Secretariat and some regional partners

The opportunity was seized to review initiatives, projects and programs and also meet some regional partners based in Ouagadougou. These organizations include ECOWAS Water Resources Coordinating Center, CILSS, 2IE, VBA, IUCN and the WSA. Ongoing initiatives and projects were introduced by the Executive Secretary, Mr. Dam MOGBANTE including the project on strengthening the institutional capacity of transboundary water management bodies in Africa (SITWA), the Water, Climate and Development Program (WACDEP ) which is an initiative of GWP in partnership with the Council of African Ministers of Water and advocacy process on the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the international watercourses by the countries of the region. The presentation of these initiatives and regional and WACDEP work plans gave a highlight to the new Chair of all the points on which support is expected from him. This allowed him to note the expectations of the Secretariat and Country Water Partnerships to better establish the GWP in the region. In reaction Afouda that he took g note of all expectations which for his are all challenges that must be addressed and he promised to invest himself as much as he can. He also noted the work already done with the authorities of Burkina with the support of the host institution under the leadership of the outgoing Chair, Hama Arba DIALLO for the GWP to go for self-hosting. To assume fully his new responsibility, the new chair made courtesy visits to some partner institutions. They are the Pan African Intergovernmental Agency for Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA), GWP host institution, the Water Resources Coordination Center of ECOWAS, the Volta Basin Authority (VBA), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Inter-State Committee for the Fight against Drought in the Sahel (CILSS), and the International Institute for Water and Environment (2IE). With these partners, discussions were about strengthening existing collaboration relationships. Before leaving Ouagadougou, Professor AFOUDA thanked the secretariat staff for their and commitment. He said that he was "confident about the future of GWP in West Africa". He promised to invest in the implementation of various initiatives to address the challenges and deserve the confidence placed in him. At a dinner attended by the Secretariat and some regional partners, the outgoing Chair, Hama Arba DIALLO, congratulated his successor and reiterated his readiness to respond to any requests when needed.