Peacebuilding To Pursue Water Security

Last month in Kenya - with heartfelt thanks for your support - 20 Waterkeepers from 17 countries gathered together for a training led by EcoPeace. Building upon their quarter-century of experience, EcoPeace shared best practices derived from their success in the Middle East, advising how best to adapt ‘bottom-up and top-down’ programming and strategies for the circumstances specific to each participant in the room.

The intensive, full-day session created opportunities for an exchange of experiences and capacity building – providing tools, technical advice and training to support strategic planning, political advocacy and grassroots activities that employ EcoPeace’s unique methodology. Through hands-on scenarios, participants gained a deeper understanding of the complexities and best practices of environmental peacebuilding with a special focus on fostering dialogue and cooperation on the protection, equitable and sustainable use of water and environmental resources.

Immediately upon completing the training, our Tjiuanna Waterkeeper reported that one of her first tasks for when she returned home would be to connect with the San Diego Coastkeeper and open a dialogue to work strategically across the international border for drinkable, fishable and swimmable water. Likewise, our Bamako Niger River Guardians Affiliate from Mali shared that he was so inspired by the training he now plans to connect with organizations in the other countries crossed by the Niger River to create a synergistic plan for their collective work.

Waterkeeper Alliance will closely follow this - as well as other - success stories that result from the training. We also plan to offer a similar training to our global movement at our Conference next June in Miami, Florida.