He said, “EPA deems its partnership with the ACWA Project very important to its own goals of promoting public awareness regarding safe drinking water, sanitary food preparation, and a safe and sustainable environment.”

Mr. Langinlur added, “This important partnership is highlighted in the fact that EPA staff have been members of the ACWA technical design surveys conducted by conducting water quality assessment and PH levels of ground wells.”

The participants’ will be able to learn the concept of climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and water safety management and describe basic concepts of climate change including causes and effects, impacts at a global scale and in RMI, and incorporate relevant elements into their communities. 

UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Resilience and Sustainable Development Programme Team Leader a.i. Justin Shone said, “This ACWA project is not only about the water sector in the Marshall Islands; it is about water security which supports food security which enhances resilience for everyone.”

The ACWA project has a value of more than US$24 million including a substantial contribution from the Government of RMI and represents UNDP’s largest investment in the Northern Pacific.

Mr. Shone said the participants have a very important role to play in representing their various atoll island communities.

“Throughout the four days, it is going to be really fantastic and enjoyable and very importantly all will learn on the concepts of Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Water Safety Management. All participants will collectively have a very important takeaway from this four-day workshop which is to empower their communities when they return to their homes – through informing them and sharing the knowledge that they have learnt,” he added.

During the course of the training, participants will also explore local adaptation activities and support other community members to incorporate adaptation activities within their communities, especially in the context of water safety management under climate change. Participants will utilize the new training package in resilience and localized education resources and teaching pedagogies for their background information and in their various communities and contextualized to the local situation – as well as improve women and youth empowerment within their communities to create synergy effects with ACWA project implementation on the ground.

The GCF funded ACWA project’s implementation is targeted at 24 neighbor atolls and islands in the RMI to improve access to safe drinking water through improved rainwater harvesting systems.

Sustainability of the water environment cannot be achieved through merely hardware interventions such as upgrading rainwater harvesting systems, also by having motivated and skilled human resources within the communities.

The workshop will include presentations on Disaster Risk Management (DRM) vs Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), RMI National Disaster management Framework and Basic Disaster Risk Reduction Water Safety Management, What is Gender Equality, Hazards and Disasters, Climate Change, Community level Water Safety Plan framework and Gender Mainstreaming, ACWA Project Overview and Community Based-water committee.

The workshop will conclude on Friday, 5 August 2022.

For more information, please contact: 

Mr. Koji Kumamaru, ACWA Project Manager, UNDP Pacific Office; email: koji.kumamarau@undp.org