The meeting’s main objective was to discuss about howto capitalize on current SWIM-SM achievements and leave a legacy for the water sector of South Mediterranean countries once the project will come to an end in December 2014.

70 participants, including the representatives of 7 SWIM Partner Countries (PCs), Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine and Tunisia and a number of observers from other regional organizations, initiatives and projects and from Parliaments of some South Mediterranean countries took actively part in the meeting, praised SWIM for its support, and shared views on the progress made and on the activities planned until end of 2014 when the project will finish.

Over its 2 years of active existence, the SWIM project has made substantial contributions to address crucial elements for the water sector in the Mediterranean region, such as on water governance, particularly the rule of law, on irrigation management efficiency by supporting the role of water users associations, on sustainable options to increase water supply through the treatment and re-use of wastewater and desalination associated with the use of renewable energies, on the uptake of water concerns from other sectors and the use of appropriate approaches and tools to enhance integrated management of the resources.

In 2014, SWIM will capitalise on the outcomes of completed activities, up-scale their outreach and impact and utilise them as building blocks for initiating policy changes.

Additional contribution to policy and regulatory frameworks, as well as emphasis on the hot topic of water sector financing were stressed as important issues that need to be more directly addressed in the Mediterranean region. Among the identified tools: increasing South-South cooperation, sharing of experiences and success stories and promoting cross-fertilization of national stakeholders, including Members of Parliaments, NGOs and media.   

A fruitful discussion about how to take stock of SWIM achievements and further assist PCs in the future highlighted the importance of the interfaces between the regional and national dimensions of such a programme like SWIM – or how to secure that countries benefit from messages and recommendations stemming from regional activities – and between policy, governance and implementation on the ground through praxis-oriented activities. In this context the SWIM programme’s built-in approach of combining soft interventions - mainly by assisting key water governance aspects in PCs - and state-of-the-art demonstration activities at the local level was praised as one of the main elements for its success.

As a good example and result of the synergies and collaborations pursued by SWIM-SM with relevant players at the Regional and National levels, for the first time Members of Parliaments of some PCs had the opportunity to participate in the deliberations of the SWIM-SM Steering Committee, before joining the “Regional Workshop for Members of Parliaments on Climate Variability and Change in the Mediterranean coastal area” (also in Athens, on 13-14 November 2013) undertaken by regional organizations[1] and also supported by SWIM-SM, with a closing session for all participants of the two events hosted by the Special Permanent Committee on Environmental Protectionat the Hellenic Parliament.

To download the materials of the meeting click here