Presenting the work of GWP.

1. Transboundary water
cooperation – experience
from GWP network
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Natalia Alexeeva
Senior Networking Officer
Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and
Caucasus, and Mediterranean
Focal point for Transboundary Water Security area

2. GWP Strategy Towards 2020
GWP Vision: A Water Secure World
GWP Mission: To advance
governance and management of
water resources for sustainable and
equitable development.
GWP Core Values: Neutrality,
inclusiveness, openness, integrity,
accountability, respect, gender
sensitivity, and solidarity
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3. GWP Strategic Goals
1) Catalyse change in policies
and practice
2) Generate and communicate
knowledge
3) Strengthen partnerships
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4. GWP Thematic Approach
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FoodEcosystems Transboundary
Energy Climate Change Urbanisation

5. Cross Cutting Issues:
Gender and Youth
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Support for gender
mainstreaming in water
management
Support for youth and young
water professionals
Independent gender and youth
strategies under development

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Strategic Approach

7. RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
RWP
CWP
CWP
CWP
CWP
CWP
Technical Committee
Secretariat
Plus:
Special Programmes
(WACDEP, Global
Dialogue, Deltas etc.)
CWP
Allies
13 Regional Water Partnerships
76 Country Water Partnerships
2,964 Partners in more than 150
countries

8. A partnership is not the sum of its parts, it is the
product of the parts' interaction.

9. GWP Strategy says:
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…Ensuring that the benefits of transboundary water sources are shared equitably among nations
is a major challenge for national governments and international law. Competing claims and
opposing interests can quickly bring nations into conflict, especially over fresh water, which is
essential, limited, and unevenly distributed…Water conflicts interfere with economic and social
development and can lead to humanitarian crises. Our long experience with facilitating and
supporting collaboration at all levels puts GWP in an excellent position to foster transboundary
cooperation by providing a neutral space for dialogue and negotiation, backed up by knowledge
products and project experience. We already engage with countries on transboundary water
management on the River Nile and the Danube, and with other river basins in western and
southern Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia, and China..
African Network of Basin Organisations (ANBO) under the African Ministers’ Council on Water
(AMCOW)/African Union (AU) framework, in partnership with the European Union (EU). We will
share results of successful practices and approaches with other regions and basins. This process
will benefit from our experience in capacity building in international water law. We do this
through initiatives like the GWP–University of Dundee scholarship programme, which is designed
for water management practitioners from our Partner organisations.

10. With the main objective to:
Develop a Strategic Shared Vision among
the competent national authorities and
stakeholders for the sustainable
management of the Drin basin
Drin River Basin Dialogue
Initiated on an ad hoc basis already in 2006, and started per se in late 2008, the
Drin Dialogue was a rich and coordinated consultation process among the:
- water resources management competent Ministries of the five riparians
(Albania, FYR Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo (under UN SC Resolution 1244) and
Montenegro)
- the existing joint Commissions/Committees in the sub-basins and all related
stakeholders
- civil society workshops were carried
out in the sub-basins prior to the joint
commissions/committees &
stakeholders consultations

11. The Policy and Technical Cooperation Framework is provided, inter alia, by:
- The UNECE Water Convention
- The European Union Water Framework Directive
- The Petersberg Phase II Process / Athens Declaration Process
- GEF IW:LEARN
- The Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative (MED EUWI)
- The GEF MedPartnership
Financial Support has been provided, inter alia, by: Swedish EPA, German ENV
Ministry, GEF, Greek ENV Ministry, and other agencies.
GEF is supporting Drin cooperation through a Full Size Programme (2013-2017)
Key facilitating partners
- UNECE has been the key policy driving force
- GWP Med serves as the Drin Core Group Secretariat with technical functions
Drin River Basin Dialogue: a Partnership

12. SITWA
The overall objective of SITWA is to
strengthen regional cooperation at the
political, economic and stakeholder level for
sustainable management of transboundary
water resources in Africa contributing to
peace and security, stability and poverty
alleviation, relying on African knowledge.
Objective 1: ANBO transformed into a
sustainable and influential organization as
a pillar under AMCOW:
Objective 2: ANBO Program implemented
and TA provided through the RECs:
EC/GWPO Contribution Agreement (joint
management approach) signed in
December 2011, 3 Million Euro, over 4
years
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13. Some of the key challenges
1. Interplay of different/sometimes competing legal
requirements and agendas, or absence of clear binging
mechanisms. Solutions: soft law/MOUs, coordination
platforms and partnerships (Drin)
2. Lacking priorities/resources. Solutions: donor-driven support
push into cooperation (SITWA)
3. Slow process/no immediate results. Solutions: combination
with pilot projects and concrete activities (WACDEP)
4. Sometimes extremely politicized! Solutions: looking at less
controversial/technical issues, nexus and modelling (BEAM)
5. Need in common understanding/language. Solutions:
capacity building (Dundee), dialogues on different levels (LA)
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15. Join Us!
Check out the GWP Toolbox! An online repository that
brings together resources on how to apply Integrated
Water Resources Management: www.gwptoolbox.org
Become a Partner! Applications are open to all
organization and institutions that support an integrated
approach to managing water resources and there is no
fee. Apply online at http://www.gwp.org
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