Catalin Stefan attended the first GRIPP Partners' Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland

The first face-to-face Partners’ Meeting of GRIPP (Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice) was held on 8-9 February in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was used to discuss and agree on basic principles of the partnership, including the mission, structure and governance, but also to attain consensus on impact pathways and short-term actions. A day prior to the meeting, GRIPP was introduced to members and partners of UN-Water; both meetings were kindly hosted by World Meteorological Organisation. The INOWAS group was represented at the meeting by Catalin Stefan on behalf of the Center of Advanced Water Research (CAWR).

GRIPP is a global initiative to strengthen cooperation among groundwater specialists, enhancing groundwater advocacy, dissemination of existing- and generation of new groundwater solutions. GRIPP was initiated by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and quickly embraced by many organisations all over the globe. The following GRIPP partners participated in the Geneva meeting: IWMI, IGRAC, IAH, IUCN, NCGRT, AGW-Net, DWFI, BGR, CAWR, UNU-INWEH and IRHA. Several other partners (like NGWA, IGES and AWRA) joined the meeting by skype or sent their contributions in advance. Partners experience that GRIPP brings together institutions and people who are concerned about the state of groundwater resources and are passionate in their efforts to make a difference.

Day 1 - GRIPP Principles and Structure

The key topics addressed during the first day of this GRIPP Partners’ Meeting were organisational structure, governance and financing. The GRIPP structure distinguishes the Core Group (close engagement / governance), Associate Partners (engagement / advisory role) and the Forum (confirmed interest in GRIPP / information sharing). GRIPP is coordinated by Karen Villholth (IWMI) with support from the GRIPP Implementation Unit at IWMI and from all partners.

The GRIPP partners’ meeting took place back-to-back with the UN-Water meeting to present the GRIPP initiative to UN-Water members and partners and explore possibilities to enhance collaboration, transparency, synergy and efficiency in international groundwater activities. Since several GRIPP partners are also UN Water members or partners, GRIPP can be seen as a novel and exemplary coordination initiative within the wider UN-Water community.

The first day of the meeting was rounded off with a discussion and agreements on GRIPP core documents and procedures, describing for example the mission statement, value proposition, content and format for GRIPP Case Profiles and other knowledge products, common acquisition procedure and publishing, etc.

Day 2 - GRIPP Plans and Activities

The second meeting day was dedicated to GRIPP implementation: from the GRIPP mission to concrete actions. GRIPP overall objective is sustaining and enhancing groundwater benefits for livelihoods, food security, climate resilience, economic growth and ecosystems. To achieve that, GRIPP will concentrate on the following impacts:

• recognition of groundwater in the global water agenda
• transfer and implementation of proven groundwater solutions (technologies, management tools, policies, and governance practices) across the world
• generation of new solutions through international cooperation

An important cross-cutting activity is awareness raising and capacity development to achieve the above impacts. As a first activity related to strengthening recognition of groundwater in the global water agenda, GRIPP partners are drafting a message to the United Nations’ High Level Panel on Water on the importance of groundwater for the achievement of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and many of the Sustainable Development Goals.

During the meeting, impact pathways have been defined, including activities, fund raising, products and target audience. Information sharing and communication received special attention, and includes a simple closing message to potential partners and stakeholders:

Welcome to GRIPP!

(Text and photo: the GRIPP Initiative, reproduced with permission)