On 28 March in Dakar, GRET participated in a workshop on the challenges of integrated water resources management in the countries of the Senegal River (Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and Guinea). The event was organised as part of the institutional cooperation between the Adour-Garonne Water Agency (in french) (AEAG), the Organisation for enhancement of the Senegal River (in french) (OMVS) and the Solidarité Eau programme (pS-Eau).
During the workshop, the Senegal River Initiative, a cooperation framework bringing together six NGOs (Ados, AVSF Geres, Grdr, Le Partenariat and GRET) working in the river valley and sharing common views, was presented. The Senegal River Initiative’s first projects will focus on mapping of interventions and tool-sharing, identification of specific issues in the territories and lastly, identification of possible collective actions.
GRET also presented its action-research project on integrated water resources management (in french)(IWRM), implemented in the Niayes area. This project aims to construct local governance of water and to develop local IWRM plans in three communes. To do this, the project’s focus is three-fold: sharing of information, organisation and actions – perfectly illustrated by the example of the mobilisation of stakeholders in the village of Mont Rolland for quality water (tests followed by advocacy among service managers) and for better sharing of their water resources (data collection and consultation between users).
Other presentations made it possible to learn more about institutional IWRM strategies, and about the challenges of managing the Diama and Manantali dams. This project drew inspiration from other water management experiences, in Mali for example and in the Senegalese city of Tambacounda. Lastly, discussions made it possible to gain greater understanding and inform debates and ideas on this burgeoning subject.
