Description
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the sustainable management of water resources. The promoter’s technical capacity through the reinforcement of its specialized human resources will increase and improve its capability to raise awareness, train and mobilize both the civil society and the public administration to the importance of identifying and preserving water masses. In order to assure full compliance with national and Community law, the promoter will invest on its advocacy role in order to monitor and influence public policies by issuing public statements and participating in public consultations on water matters. The project also features a strong multimedia communication plan to raise public awareness. The promoter is a nationwide environmental NGO in partnership with two national authorities in charge of the development, implementation, regulation and enforcement of environmental policies.
Summary of project results
Today, more than ever before, and in the face of climate change, water is among the most decisive sectors of governance for our future. In this area there are obvious deficiencies in public policies: the difficulties to complete the National Water Plan, the failure to meet the targets set for waste water treatment; the recurrent episodes of river pollution, still going on today without plausible explanation; the worsening water quality since 2010; and the only partial compliance with some EU directives. There is therefore justification for a significant intervention of civil society in order to decisively influence public investment policies, transparency and accountability in the use of public money and to achieve the established goals and comply with the Directives and national legislation on water quality. The project involved several actions in order to reach its objectives: in-depth study of the EU directives on water quality and identification of the main weaknesses in Portugal; setting up of a WebSig Platform where individuals can Introduce information on water uses and activities that are likely to contribute to the degradation of water quality and identify "critical points" for water quality in Portugal (currently 45 users are active); monitoring of 7 water basins in Portugal; production of reports on monitoring of water streams; creation of a Water Quality barometer involving all providers of water supply and water treatment/sewage in Portugal; training of a team of 30 volunteers in this area; publication of 39 grounded opinions related to public consultations; preparation of a large plan of communication and awareness-raising (including videos, newsletter, press releases with significant diffusion by Portuguese media); development of 4 training actions for Roma communities; capacity-building of the NGO and training of its staff. The NGO got new experience on dealing with partners and shall improve skills regarding volunteer management, relationship with official entities (not enough good to get appropriate and timely data) and contacts with the Roma community (lack of appropriate mediators). The project has reached its objectives and targets: 2 practices (law implementation) have been improved; 5 cooperation activities have been developed with central government.
Summary of bilateral results