On March 21, the forum was officially inaugurated by Senegalese President Macky Sall in the presence of high-level officials including the President of the World Water Council, the President of the World Bank, the Director-General of UNESCO as well as other Heads of States from Ethiopia, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Gambia. The vibrant ceremony was attended by thousands of local and international participants.
Emphasizing the significance and timeliness of the forum, President Sall shared that this is an opportunity for the international water community to come together and highlight the gravity of water issues which are affecting the lives and livelihoods of billions around the world. Sall’s sentiments were also echoed by Mr. Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council, who called for the creation of a global water observatory for Peace, Development, and Nature.
From one opening ceremony to another, we made our way to the Dakar Convention Center for the main show and the formal opening of the German Pavilion—our home for the next two days. The German Pavilion was organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in cooperation with German Water Partnership (GWP) and the German Association of small and medium-sized enterprises (BVMW). The German Pavilion had representation from key German civil society organizations (including KAS), private sector leaders, and experts who were all gathered to showcase their water-related projects throughout the week.
The Pavilion was inaugurated by Mr. Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary BMZ. He was joined by Ms. Irène Mingasson, EU Ambassador to Senegal, and Mr. Amadou Hott, Senegalese Minister for Economic Affairs. Speaking to the Pavilion attendees, Flasbarth stressed on the importance of close cooperation between all stakeholders, particularly in times of exacerbating political and climate crisis in the world, to ensure a water-secure future for all.
Post the ceremony, Denis and I also got a chance to present our pre-conference study to Mr. Flasbarth and exchange ideas on the importance of water security in the Global South and the potential for the EU’s role in international hydro-diplomacy.
On Day 2, we presented the KAS-MDPD and Stimson’s joint project on Water Security and International Hydro-diplomacy at the German Pavilion. We provided a brief overview of the Water Security dialogue series—takeaways from our Brussels and Colombo dialogues—along with a snapshot of our last year’s Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings centered on EU’s water diplomacy in the Himalayas, Central Asia, and Euphrates-Tigris River basin. We also discussed our upcoming programming for 2022: the launch of JWG 2.0 on peer-to-peer connectivity between transboundary river commissions and the planning for our third Water Security dialogue. We concluded our presentation by inviting feedback and reactions from all participants, and it was encouraging to receive a high level of interest in the project and applause for the project’s overall mission and impact.
We were also joined by two of our project experts, Dr. Tugba Maden, the Head of Blue Peace in the Middle East Initiative- Istanbul, and Dr. Susanne Schmeier, Associate Professor at IHE Delft, for our presentation. Both Tugba and Susanne have massively contributed to our JWG series and Tugba is also one of the authors for our pre-conference study. It was endearing to meet everyone in-person after two years of virtual engagements.
My favorite part of the day was surely the interaction with these young Senegalese school girls who were eager to learn more about our project and what water stress means for Africa and other regions. Their proclivity for knowledge was evident through their questions and comments. I am delighted to have had an exchange with them and look forward to forming lasting connections: the girls actually joined Twitter after our chat in order to keep up with our project updates as well as other forum-related news.
On Day 3, also our last day in Dakar, we spent most of our time visiting other pavilions at the forum and interacting with international water experts, policymakers, engineers, river basin organization representatives, and academics.
We were particularly honored to meet Mr. Hamed Diane Ségéga, High Commissioner of the Organization for the Development of Senegal River (OMVS,) along with his team. Since its initiation in 1972, the OMVS has done commendable work to navigate challenges common to transboundary rivers and establish itself as one of the most viable integrated development frameworks in the world. The conversations with Mr. Ségéga and many others were enlightening and will surely pave the way for a more collaborative effort in our joint quest for a more sustainable water future for all.
Dakar definitely carved a special place in all of our hearts. We are so grateful to the immense warmth of the people of Senegal who opened their doors to us and made us feel at home at every step of the way. A special thanks to KAS’ Senegal office for their hospitality; the team went above and beyond to ensure that all affairs were in order for our visit.
We returned from the Forum exceptionally motivated and inspired, and hope that by way of our project we can contribute to the making of a more water-secure world.