| The Water
and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with the Global Water Partnership (GWP) this
week that formally facilitates collaboration between the two
organizations. "This is for sure," says Gourisankar
Ghosh the Executive Director of the WSSCC, "a happy beginning
for our joint plan for a long and effective partnership!"
Two areas of work have been identified for specific collaboration
- communication and information management, and program implementation.
"At the simplest level, GWP and WSSCC representatives
will participate in each other's annual general meetings,"
explains Emilio Gabbrielli the new CEO of GWP, "and we
will be exchanging information on our membership at regional
and national levels to better facilitate the coordination
of our activities." Information on the events and activities
conducted by each organization will be also be exchanged together
with cross-referencing of information on the WSSCC and GWP
websites.
"At a higher level," adds Ghosh, "the Global
Water Partnership and the WSSCC will exchange more detailed
information on our work programs so that we can better identify
synergies and complementarities between us. This will enable
us to work in close cooperation, avoid overlaps and maximize
the use of our limited resources.
During the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn
in December 2001, GWP launched the IWRM (Integrated Water
Resources Management) ToolBox. The IWRM ToolBox supports policy
makers and water professionals by offering easy access to
practical information and guidance on establishing integrated
water resources management at national and local levels. The
WSSCC will contribute to the continuing development of the
ToolBox by contributing case studies and user experiences
on implementing IWRM in the field. "As the WSSCC's network
includes grassroots level NGOs," Ghosh explains, "our
contributions will mainly focus on community participation
and empowerment in water resources management, mainstreaming
gender in IWRM, and integration of sanitation in IWRM."
Commenting on the first phase of cooperation between the
two organizations Gabbrielli notes, "We have agreed to
focus first on the GWP regions of Central and Eastern Europe,
Central Asia and Caucasus, and South Asia, especially Pakistan,
while our GWP regions in Africa have been identified as potential
areas of collaboration in the future."
For more information about WSSCC visit the website www.wsscc.org
or contact Darren Saywell, e-mail: saywelld@who.int
For more information about GWP visit the
website www.gwpforum.org
or contact James Lenahan, e-mail: gwp@gwpforum.org |
