Title

Ghana: Integrating water security into the national development planning process

Ghana: Promoting Innovative Technologies and Alternative Livelihoods for Climate-Resilient Local Development in White Volta Basin

Uzbekistan: Improved irrigation based on IWRM approaches
Country
Ghana
Ghana
Uzbekistan
Summary

GWP-WA/CWP-Ghana, through Water Climate and Development Programme in Africa (WACDEP), an initiative responding to the Sharm El Sheik Declaration by Heads and Governments of African States, facilitated capacity development on water security and climate resilience for government agencies and Metropolitan Municipal and District Assembly planners in the 2014-2017 National Medium Term Development Planning process. This effort contributed to mainstreaming of water security in the planning landscape in Ghana.

The Global Water Partnership, under the Water Climate and Development Programme in Africa (WACDEP) implemented from 2015 to 2016, riverbanks restoration interventions and alternative livelihoods in multiple communities along the White Volta Basin and some catchment areas in Upper East region, Ghana. The initiative contributed to strengthening climate resilience at community level.

Uzbekistan is experiencing water scarcity, an issue which will be exacerbated with increased demand. Although policies exist, the water seldom reaches the end water users. To combat this issue, action has been taken by GWP Uzbekistan to conduct trainings and workshops on the dissemination of IWRM to encourage a participatory multi-sector approach. This case study illustrates the importance of public awareness, and work distribution at all levels.
Related IWRM Tools
  • Policies with Relation to Water Resources (
    A1.02
    )
  • Water Allocation Regimes (
    A2.03
    )
  • Local Authorities (
    B1.02
    )
  • Vulnerability Assessment (
    C1.02
    )
  • Social Assessment (
    C1.04
    )
  • Community-based water supply and management organisations (
    B2.03
    )
  • Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (
    B3.05
    )
  • Training Water Professionals (
    B4.02
    )
Keywords
Climate Resilience Adaptative Governance Labour and Livelihoods
Food and Nutrition Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)
Lessons Learned

Continuous capacity building and campaigns to provide technical backstopping to highlight the threats to water systems and inform decision making remains important to achieve water security.

The water security cross-cutting theme in the guidelines has undergone two cycles of implementation and the 3rd medium term development planning cycle (2022-2025) begins soon. This presents opportunity to engage the different stakeholders towards strengthening the capacity for mainstreaming water security.

Providing alternative livelihood support to farmers incentivise them to contribute to greening the riverbank. As climate change was and is a cross-cutting issue in the national development agenda, WACDEP implementation contributed to the design of approaches to achieve community resilience.

Ensuring women participation and inclusion must be deliberate by raising open discussion involving all stakeholders. The discussion helped to reduce biases and male dominance.  

The development of community members’ skills served as a means of alternative livelihoods. For instance, the nursery sub-committee members, upon raising seedlings, sold some and made donations to continue with greening the buffer zone. Communities are willing to participate in natural resource governance when the overall benefit is directly linked to their livelihoods. 

The joint stakeholder forum held for implementing partners and beneficiaries allowed for learning and sharing of best practices across communities.

IWRM is a complex approach that requires work to be done at different levels and sectors (e.g technical improvements, public involvement, and institutional rearrangements).

Increased public awareness and involvement can be achieved through number of round tables, seminar and workshops involving water suppliers and water users. However it is important to focus on practical improvements at the same time.

Rigid administrative system of water management can be improved by institutional changes that allow decentralized approaches with massive public participation in water management, such as establishment of Water Users Associations based on hydrographic principle.

Technical improvement should be also considered part of the IWRM implementation.
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