The Global Water for Sustainability (GLOWS) programme is a consortium financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) working to increase social, economic, and environmental benefits to people of the developing world.
The GLOWS mission is to promote the integrated management of water resources and aquatic ecosystems worldwide. In order to achieve this, the activities of the consortium are organized under four programme elements, which are: Project Development and Outreach, Capacity Building, Knowledge Sharing and Management, and International Leadership.
Approaches combine improved sanitation and potable water supply, advanced analytical techniques, innovative mechanisms for sustainable resource management and biodiversity conservation, community-based programmes on poverty alleviation, and global networking of local NGOs to achieve IWRM objectives.
UNESCO-IHE's activities in the GLOWS consortium have included advisory services in the design of water development programmes and support in the management of the consortium, including designing new programme activities. We contributed to the content of the USAID Guide for Water Resources Management, which contains more than 130 different topics and subtopics organized under the major headings of Water Quantity and Water Quality.
Our Institute developed and delivered to USAID staff a Training Module on Water and Climate Change. The module was taught in Bangkok, Thailand during March 2011. We also organized special sessions at Stockholm World Water Week. In 2008, a seminar was organized on Environmental Flows and Human Well-Being, and a seminar offered in 2009 focused on Environmental Flows for Sustainable Development, Poverty Alleviation and Biodiversity Conservation.
Several activities around the Mara River Basin in Kenya and Tanzania have been carried out by UNESCO-IHE, comprising analytical services and MSc research fellowships to support thesis projects in the Mara River Basin.