Groundwater is rising on the agenda of the Africa continent, as a source of water to increase water security and resilience in the continent, while also representing a potentially vulnerable resource if not developed and managed effectively. This was reflected in the agenda of the stakeholder meeting convened by the African Groundwater Commission (AGWC) on 24 to 25 July, 2017 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The meeting, convened alongside the AMCOW Technical Advisory Committee (AMCOW TAC) meeting that ran for five days (24-28 July), had the objective to discuss the strategic work program of the African Groundwater Commission (AGWC), the governance aspects, the host of the AGWC secretariat, and the funding mechanisms to ensure its sustainability. The new Executive Secretary of AMCOW, Mr Canisius Kanangire, expressed strong support to AGWC, which has been quite inactive since 2007.
GRIPP partners IWMI (Karen Villholth), DWFI (Peter McCornick, Nick Brozovic and Lameck Odhiambo), AGW-Net (Callist Tindimugaya and Moustapha Diene), IAH (Shammy Puri), and UNESCO (Mary M. Khimulu) attended to support and give constructive inputs and considerations to the Commission. The AGWC sessions were co-chaired by Mr Shammy Puri, Director of the IAH Commission on Transboundary Aquifers, who has also been assisting in drafting a Legal Framework and Strategies Leading to the Operationalisation of the African Groundwater Commission. A general recommendation was to increase the attention to groundwater use in agriculture, which is on the rise in Africa.