113 cities and 24 hours: two figures to describe the importance of Climathon, a major event on climate, which took place last week-end involving institutions, authorities and associations working on the critical issue of climate change. 
Climathon involved 113 cities around the world including the City of Turin, which was chosen to host the "Climathon Main Stage: the way we change" , held at the Environment park, during which video broadcasting were set up with all the participating cities. In the meanwhile the Museum of Environemnt - Museo A come Ambiente (MAcA) - hosted a 24-hour "urban hackathon" where citizens, scholars, researchers, representatives of companies and associations gathered together to elaborate and propose possible solutions on the topic of extreme weather events. 
Hydroaid - Water for Development Management Institute actively contributed to Climathon 2018 promoting, in collaboration with the "Istituto per l'ambiente e l'istruzione Scholé Futuro Onlus" and "SMAT", Friday 26 October, the event "Young Climathon" in which "YouLabWater", a workshop to raise awareness on the issue of climate change and its impact on water resources, involved over 80 students of the first level secondary school from the local area.

On Saturday 27 October, within the "School for the Environment" of Climathon Main Stage, dedicated to young primary and secondary school students, Hydroaid presented the second edition of the environmental education project "CLIC2 - the school changes the climate", on climate change and water footprint, which involves over one thousand students of 48 classes of the Metropolitan City of Turin.

The President of Hydroaid, Ambassador Luigi Cavalchini, and Hydroaid's Acting Director, Ms Maria Cristina Ciancetta, were invited to participate at the second Italy-Africa Ministerial Conference organized in Rome by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation  on 25 October. 
The Conference is the occasion for an exchange of views with African Ministers of Foreign Affairs, high level representatives of major international organizations as well as Italian business, academia and civil society. Discussions aim at strenghtening the cooperation between Italy and Africa and focus mainly on the shared economic growth and mutual benefits, the political stability and security and the human development. Fifty-four African countries, most represented at ministerial level, and thirteen international organizations, including the Africa Union, for a total of 350 delegates take part in the Conference.
Hydroaid is currently active in several African countries (Benin, Mozambico, Senegal, Tanzania) where contributes, through international cooperation initiatives, to the improvement of sustainable development, fostering the integration and encouraging the collaboration with local communities. In particular, Hydroaid is developing important relationships with the Water Development and Resources Found of Ethiopia and the Minister of Water and Irrigation of Egypt, aiming at the implementation of specific training initiatives and to establish Master programmes in the field of sustainable management of water resources.

The President of Hydroaid, Ambassador Cavalchini, and  Hydroaid's External Relations Manager, took part to the Cairo Water Week (CWW),  a one week international conference on “Water conservation for sustainable development”, organized in Cairo by the Egyptian Ministry of Water and Irrigation  from 14 to 18 October.
This very first edition of the CWW was an important international gathering for promoting water awareness, fostering new thinking about the most pressing water-related challenges and envisaging actions towards integrated water resources management and conservation for sustainable development. 
The CWW gathered together all the actors and stakeholders, including governments and international organisations, operating in the water sector at the international and regional levels to discuss the most burning water-related issues such as desertification, water scarcity, upstream countries development and significant impact of climate change on water resources.
During the CWW the Hydroaid's delegation, thanks to the support of the Italian Embassy in Cairo, had the opportunity to meet H.E. Mohamed Abdel Ati, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWI) and Chairman of Cairo Water Week  and Dr. Khaled Abdelhay, President of the National Water Research Centre (NWRC) - the research and development centre of the Egyptian MWI - to discuss several possible initiatives concerning the development of training and Master programmes in the field of sustainable management of water resources.

Hydroaid took part to the meeting organized by the Regione Piemonte in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding "The Regione Piemonte  for Green Education". The meeting, addressed to the 33 signatories of the Protocol, focused on a work proposal  by IRES Piemonte aimed at enhancing the subscribers' experiences with respect to the objectives of the Memorandum and with the aim of building a regional strategy on sustainability, consistent with the objectives of the Agenda 2030 and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development.

Last December, the Water Authority No. 3 "Torinese" approved the second edition of the project "CLIC - The school changes the climate." 
The project - realized by Hydroaid in collaboration with CinemAmbiente TV Film for Environmental Education, MAcA ( Museo A come Ambiente), Polytechnic of Turin, Volonwrite Association, an association, active in the field of multimedia social communication, under the patronage of the Metropolitan City of Turin and the City of Turin - put again the school system of the Turin area as the center of several recreational-educational and training activities on issues related to the management of water resources and the phenomenon of climate change.

The Compagnia di San Paolo, in collaboration with IAI (Istituto Affari Internazionali) and CESPI (Centro per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale) has organized a conference regarding the agenda of the 2018 OSCE Italian Presidency. The aim of this event is to discuss the role of the OSCE in the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms together with the advancement of security in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Such regions have great potential, but continue to be characterized by institutional fragility, inter-ethnic tensions and interstate antagonisms. Particular attention will be given to the tasks and challenges that OSCE will have to face next year when Italy takes over the Presidency of the organization. The conference will offer the opportunity for an exchange of opinions and evaluations concerning the agenda of the Italian Presidency to be announced in the coming weeks.​

On December 5  the conference on "Digital Water - Applied research for water services" took place at SMAT HQ in Turin. The event was the occasion to present the most significant research activities carried out by utilities, universities, research centers and industries in the field of applied research on water services.. Download the programme (Italian). 
During the event the "Water Academy", the high level training school of UTILITALIA and the newly created Water Research Award were also officially presented. 
The conference discussed the issues of research, innovation and development with a view on business opportunities and potential environmental benefits.
The SMAT Research Center along with leading companies of this specific sector, including Hera,Iren, Olivetti and Thales Alenia Space, took part to the conference. More information at www.smatorino.it.

​Last Tuesday, November 14, a delegation of experts and technicians from the Ethiopian Water Resources Development Fund (WRDF) participated in the workshop on “Industrial application of the SOFC system: the DEMOSOFC project", within the framework of the capacity development program currently conducted by Hydraoid with the WRDF. 
The workshop, organized at the Polytechnic of Turin, presented DEMOSOFC project, an initiative funded by the European Union in the framework of the Horizon 2020  program  aimed at producing high efficiency energy with solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) by using biogas from waste water. The project is supported by a technical partnership  which includes the Polytechnic of Turin, the Imperial College of London,  SMAT (the Turin water utility which will implement  the prototype in Collegno's wastewater treatment plant in Turin), the Finnish start-up Convion and the Research Center of the same Scandinavian country VTT. 
The project has enabled the installation of the first European industrial-size fuel cell system in the SMAT plant of Collegno that can convert the sludge from the wastewater into clean and valuable energy, thanks to the high efficiency conversion of solid oxide fuel powered by biogas produced by the anaerobic digestion of sludge from the urban waste water. The project represents an important example of “circular economy”, which meets about 30% of the demand for electricity and more than 50% of the demand for heating of the plant.
 The workshop included a visit in the afternoon to the SMAT plant in Collegno where this innovative system is currently being implemented.

​ A delegation from the Ethiopian Water Resources Development Fund (WRDF) is visiting Turin from 16th to 26t​h October, in the framework of the training programme realized by Hydroaid in support of the staff of the WRDF.
The delegation include Director General, Dr. Wanna Wake Gelesu, and those responsible for planning, finances and public relations. They are involved in a training programme and technical visits with the objective of exchanging experiences and know-how about water resources management by focusing on the model adopted in the Piedmont region (Northern Italy). Activities will take place in different locations in collaboration with members and partners of Hydroaid (ATO3, SMAT, Hydrodata, Regione Piemonte, ACDA).
The Ethiopian Water Resources Development Fund, established by the Ethiopian Government in January 2002, is the governmental agency which promotes the development of viable water and sanitation services in Ethiopian urban areas and evaluates the projects presented by local suppliers with regards to the water infrastructure of the entire area of Ethiopia.
For the past five years, Hydroaid has realized as series of training initiatives and capacity development in Ethiopia: the WATSAM Project, financed by the European Union and the platform A Focus on Ethiopia, together with distant learning projects financed by the ATO3 (Turin), have paved the way to the establishment and following consolidation of relationships with Ethiopian institutions 
The WRDF and Hydroaid signed an agreement on 4th April 2017 aiming at the organization of a training programme set out in several phases: the first “on the job” step, geared towards technical and economic aspects of the project, took place last July at the WRDF offices in Addis Abeba.
The second phase of the training take place in Turin as from Monday 16th October with an in-depth session on theory, together with technical visits to plants and focus on aspects concerning regulatory frameworks and financial evaluation. For a period of ten days the first group of high level officials from the WRDF will have the possibility to observe and discuss about the model of water governance adopted by the Piedmont region and debate ideas with administrators, technicians and regulators concerning best practices and solutions aimed at the improvement of water supplies in Ethiopia. 
A planned visit of a second group of technicians from the WRDF in November will wrap up this intense period of training and exchange which benefit the support of the Government of Ethiopia and Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Addis Abeba.

On September 11, the new e-Learning course on "Gouvernance territoriale: fondements, enjeux et pratiques en Afrique de l’Ouest et au Sénégal" began. The course, orgarnized by Hydroaid in collaboration with the Institut de la Gouvernance Territorial of the Dakar’s University Cheikh Anta Diop, presents the fundamental elements and most crucial challenges concerning the governance of local administration. It provides an in-depth analysis of the key concepts (governance, good governance, decentralization, local development, etc.) and governance issues in West Africa, focusing on actors, mechanisms and programmes.​ ​
150 people from 14 French-speaking countries applied. The selection of candidates, based on their skills, competencies and motivations, gave a final number of 80 participants from 10 countries (Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Congo, Senegal, Tchad, Togo); 19 of the 80 candidates selected are women. 
​​During the first week of the course, the participants learned about the methodology and subjects of the course and familiarized themselves with the e-learning platform, exploring its tools and ways of using it. This week, training activities and exercises began. 49% of the participants come from the public sector, 27% from the private sector, and the remaining 24% are unemployed.