First meeting between the Executive Secretaries of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) and the Global Water Partnership for West Africa (GWP-WA), Ouagadougou, September 9, 2024

Mr. Nabil BEN KHATRA, Executive Secretary of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), along with Mr. Ghazi GADER, Project and Program Coordinator at the Climate Department, were received, on Monday, September 9, 2024, by Mr. Armand HOUANEY, Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership in West Africa (GWP-AO) and his colleagues, at the Organization's headquarters in Ouagadougou.

Discussions made it possible to highlight the initiatives carried out in West Africa, in particular those of common interest, related to the integrated management of water resources in a region hit hard by climate change. Mr. BEN KHATRA recalled the importance of the existing collaborations between the OSS and the GWP-AO and GWP-EA network, through a project funded by the Adaptation Fund.

Both parties welcomed the fruitful collaboration of the two Organizations, particularly within the framework of the IREE project "Regional Initiative for Water and Environment in the Mono River Transboundary Basin", funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the BOUCLIER-CLIMAT/MONO project, aimed at strengthening climate change adaptation in this basin shared by Benin and Togo, the full document of which was recently submitted to the Adaptation Fund for approval.

Finally, the two delegations expressed their common will to reinforce their collaboration and bring it to a formal partnership extended to other areas, including transboundary groundwater resources management as well as other topics meeting the specific needs of the member countries of the region.