Regional Capacity on Water Integrity Builds Up

More than 20 participants from MENA region trained on improving transparency, accountability and participation in the water sector, 9-10 May 2015 in Sharm El Shaikh, Egypt.

Following a successful first training in January 2015 the second regional training course on water integrity for the Middle East and North Africa region was held on 09 and 10 May 2015 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; back to back with the IUCN-ROWA regional conference RKNOW “Water and Nature Conservation - Knowledge Sharing in MENA Region” coming up this week.

More than 20 participants learned about the context and relevance of integrity in the management of water; methods to improve transparency, accountability and participation for better water governance and more sustainable water management.

Promoting water integrity and fighting corruption in the management of water has the potential to create dramatic and lasting improvement for human dignity, health, nature and equitable access to water. Additionally, it helps create a fertile ground for socio-economic development and investments.
This regional course is part of a series of training workshops, specifically tailored for the Middle East and North Africa region as part of the regional Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme in the Middle East and North Africa (WI MENA).The overall objective of the programme is to develop capacities of various stakeholders for water integrity in the MENA region, thereby improving transparency and accountability practices in water resources management. This training in particular aims at reaching out to the wider MENA region; beyond the five pilot countries and the specific target groups of the WI MENA programme.

For this regional training course Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) through the UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI (WGF) is cooperating with the Arab Integrated Water Resources Management Network (AWARENET), a Cap-Net UNDP affiliated regional network on capacity development in sustainable water management for the Arab region hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA); the International Union for Conservation of Nature - Regional Office for West Asia (IUCN-ROWA); and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med).

The WI MENA programme is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and has been officially labelled under the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) framework. Starting in 2014, the SIWI is implementing the WI MENA programme in collaboration with regional and national partners. The programme conducted water integrity risk assessments and mapped the capacity needs of the main stakeholders in water resources management in five pilot countries, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. Existing training material on water integrity was adapted to fit the needs of the region and a pool of water integrity trainers has been created to deliver water integrity trainings on the ground.