Knowledge and Communications Activities in GWP SAS Success and/or failures – and lessons learnt (since June 2014) By Diluka Piyasena, Communication Coordinator, GWP SAS 26 November 2015

The Global Water Partnership South Asia (GWP SAS) GWP SAS is an independent constituent of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) family GWP SAS currently represents Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka linked to the network through the respective Country Water Partnerships (CWPs)

Negotiations at country levels for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) • National Consultations on ‘Water in the Post-2015 Development Agenda’ – Phase I and II were held in early 2014 Followed up with; Briefings to the relevant government authorities together with letters and discussions in public events Used the letter format which was shared by the GWPO with appropriate amendments to deliver the message Involvement of Senior Officials of the Government in Regional Council and at Country Water Partnership level is an advantage

Development of South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) “Development of South Asia Drought Monitoring System” was initiated as a joint undertaking of IWMI, GWP SAS, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)/GWP Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and CGIAR Research programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Different communication tools; - Questionnaires for reconnaissance survey in selected drought affected districts of Sri Lanka/India and conducting observation field visits - Interactive Workshop on the SADMS in Dhakar - Webinar - Facilitated field condition observations, gathered information from the farmer community - The Interactive Workshop was held consecutively with South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-6) and the Climate Service User Forum (CSUF-2) for the water community around the world - given a good platform to get the engagement of user community for the product development and validation. Conducting the webinar using Skype for Business was a cost effective method But the expected audience was the National level Government stakeholders – with less internet facilities and having low bandwidth

Compilation of WACREP Phase I report Water and Climate Resilient Programme (WACREP) is an initiative of GWP SAS formulated to improve the climate resilience of South Asian countries. With the completion of WACREP Phase I in March 2015, the achievements were documented in one report. - Single document containing activities conducted under Phase I - Assisted in developing Newslines (two page summary documents targeted towards the readers who are interested in issues related to water and development) - Having a considerable length as this includes the details of activities conducted

World Environment Day and World Water Day celebrations - Boat rally in Khulna to raise awareness among stakeholders on water security and climate resilient development in Bangladesh and tree planting in Sri Lanka. World Water Day: Students engaged in cleaning one of the major tributaries of Thimphu river, exhibitions and speech competitions for students in Bhutan and Sri Lanka ‘Walk for Water’ in India and Sri Lanka Panel discussion on ’Water-A Key to Sustainable Development’ and conductied workshops in India and Bangladesh Conference on ‘Water and Sustainable Development - Role of Youth for Sustainable Water Resource Management’ in Pakistan Publishing articles around WWD in English and National Newspapers – Sri Lanka CWPs are utilising the global events very effectively to; share knowledge and information Campaigning for specific goals

Knowledge Products Video: Traditional coping systems for climate resilience; examples from North East India Reports/training manuals: Adaptation Planning Guide (Climate Adaptive Planning and Capacity Building of Farming Community in Semi-arid Areas of Bundelkh and Region, Madhya Pradesh) Climate Change Adaptation Projects and Major Activities on Climate Financing in Nepal An Introductory Guide to Proposal Development for small NGO/Organizations seeking funding for Institutional Development - SLWP - Uploaded to the GWP SAS website facilitating knowledge sharing and dissemination - Enabling replication of good practices - Level of uptake needs to be monitored

Monthly Activity Report and Monitoring Sheet GWP SAS compiles the Monthly Activity Report for the region and submits to GWPO and publishes in GWP SAS Website - Gathering information from counterparts/partners and finalising at the country level + compilation and finalisation at the regional level needs substantial time

Thank you!