Global Water Partnership Executive Secretary Visits USACE IWR - ICIWaRM

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA - April 24, 2012. Dr. Ania Grobicki, the Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership (GWP), visited USACE IWR on March 26, 2012, to discuss furthering the partnership that GWP has with the International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM). Dr. Grobicki gave a lecture for IWR and ICIWaRM staff on the mission of the GWP and its numerous programs underway in the world’s developing nations.

During the visit Dr. Grobicki met with the IWR and ICIWaRM Director Bob Pietrowsky and ICIWaRM Deputy Director Dr. Will Logan and ICIWaRM Technical Director Dr. Gene Stakhiv to discuss a range of issues and potential cooperative agreements to co-sponsor training and climate adaptation efforts through the mechanisms of integrated water resources management. Dr. Stakhiv has been a member of the GWP Steering Committee since 2009. IWR and the GWP first entered into a partnership in 2007, with a focus on each organization's mutual interest in:

• Development of procedures and methods for integrated water resources management in support of sustainable development
• Infrastructure development
• Adaptation to climate change and its impacts on water resources
• Integrated flood management, hydrologic analysis, risk analysis and systems modeling
• Integrated drought management and drought risk reduction
• Environmental restoration, ecological design, eco-hydrologic analysis and water quality
• Consensus building, conflict resolution, public participation and citizen involvement, alternative dispute resolution, and shared vision planning
• Water policy, governance, and institutional aspects of water and watershed management
• Capacity building, development and training
• Educational methods and systems
• Water security, within the context of the Millennium Development Goals
• Transboundary water resources

Dr. Grobicki has spent the majority of her working life establishing and growing a range of organizations and working on water-related issues at the sub-national, national and international levels. For 10 years she managed her own firm where she worked on water supply, reuse, water quality, pollution, sanitation, and integrated catchment management issues. She has worked on the water needs of industry, energy, agriculture, health and the environment. Dr. Grobicki has a BA in Economics, a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Biotechnology from Imperial College, London.

More about the Global Water Partnership

The Global Water Partnership is an intergovernmental organization established in 2002 by an agreement between the Governments of Sweden, Chile, Pakistan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Argentina and the World Bank. The mission of GWP is to support the sustainable development and management of water resources at all levels. Participation in the GWP has grown over the years, now having 13 Regional Water Partnerships, 80 accredited Country Water Partnerships, and a global network of over 2,600 Partner organizations in 2012, including government institutions, academic and research bodies, civil society organizations and the private sector. IWR signed a memorandum of understanding with GWP in 2007.

Learn More

• ICIWaRM
• Global Water Partnership Organization
• About the IWR-GWP Memorandum of Understanding