KnoWat’s participation at the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal
The World Water Forum is the largest water event in the world. It has been organized every three years since 1997 by the World Water Council, in partnership with the host country. The 9th edition of this Forum was held in Dakar, Senegal, from 21 to 26 March 2022.
This year’s edition brought together over 8,000 participants from different sectors, including politics, multilateral institutions, academia and research, civil society and the private sector. It was a unique opportunity for the international water community to discuss and present water security challenges and solutions as indicated by this year's theme: "Water Security for Peace and Development".
According to the Executive Secretary of the Forum, Mr. Abdoulaye SENE, during the round table on "Water and Rural Development", the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) made a high-quality contribution.
Indeed, several FAO projects and initiatives on water were presented during the different thematic and special sessions of the Forum, including the project "Knowing Water Better: Towards more equitable and sustainable access to natural resources for greater food security (KnoWat)".
The KnoWAT project, whose main objective is to contribute to water governance processes in Sri Lanka, Senegal and Rwanda, was represented by the National Coordinator in Senegal, Mr Lamine SAMAKE, and by the Land and Water Officer based at FAO Headquarters, Ms Virginie GILLET. The team took part in more than ten sessions during which they presented the project and its main results.
During this 9th edition of the World Water Forum, the KnoWAT project was also selected among the 126 labeled projects out of several hundred submitted worldwide to the "Dakar 2022 Initiative" which aims to collect, support and present projects from all over the world that have a real economic, social and environmental impact on the lives of populations.