Within the framework of the meetings with the African Regional Economic Communities initiated by the Executive Secretariats of the 9th World Water Forum and AMCOW in partnership with the African Union Commission, the second virtual session was held on 27 October with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to ensure the mobilisation of East African countries towards the Forum. The third virtual session was held on November 3rd with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
These meetings were an opportunity to bring together basin organisations, ministerial departments, private operators, financial institutions, research institutions, civil society and all stakeholders from the two sub-regions, to share with them information on the state of progress of the preparatory process and to exchange ideas for collaboration with these two regional communities, taking into account the specific stakes and challenges on water security in each region.
To this end, Mr. Abdoulaye Sène, Executive Secretary of the Forum, shared on each occasion the components of the Forum with the participants :
- the multi-stakeholder platform with all actors (ministers, parliamentarians, local authorities, scientists, private sector, civil society, youth, women, etc.),
- the Summit of Heads of State with the main international institutions,
- the Initative Dakar 2021, for the implementation of concrete actions in the field.
He thus outlined the results expected from the Forum at the political, scientific and development levels, in order to achieve the objectives of international development agendas, in particular the African Union's Agenda 2063.
In addition, a special session on the Forum was organised during the World Water Week in Cairo. This session allowed different stakeholders to better understand the state of progress of the process and to discuss the first proposals of the action groups. Indeed, it was for the Executive Secretary an opportunity to talk about the structure, the expected results and the ways and means to join the 9th World Water Forum process on the one hand. On the other hand, coordinators and supervisors of the action groups took stock of the progress of the process for each of the four thematic priorities by going back over some key actions selected for certain action groups as examples.
