Nearly half of all P2P pairings reunited in Rio: a turning point for the project

For the first time, nearly half of the 21 selected partnerships were brought together in one place. This was a moment eagerly awaited by many partners, who had previously only communicated remotely. In addition to the sessions on the official programme, discussions continued during breaks and on the sidelines of the meetings, enabling the partners to get to know one another better and to clarify their expectations and avenues for cooperation.

Two sessions were specifically dedicated to P2P on 16 June: the first, co-organised by INBO and ANBO (noting that 15 of the 21 partnerships involve an African partner), aimed to give the partnerships a platform to explain the reasons for their collaboration, the challenges they share, and the actions they have undertaken or are planning. Following introductory remarks by the Secretary-General of RIOB and the Deputy Director-General for International Partnerships at the EU, the first session featured a presentation by the Director of Regional Infrastructure at OMVS (Organisation for the Development of the Senegal River), followed by presentations from the two partnerships in which OMVS is involved: the Executive Director of the MRC (Mekong River Commission) on the one hand, and the Director-General of the AEAG (Adour-Garonne Water Agency) on the other. During this session, which featured presentations from several other peers, the testimonies illustrated not only the diversity of the situations encountered but also the convergence of the concerns expressed: governance, planning, mobilising funding, data management, adaptation to climate change and stakeholder engagement emerged as common challenges, regardless of the continent.

In the early afternoon, the first regional module of the P2P learning programme brought together several Latin American partnerships to discuss two themes that feature prominently in their action plans: the governance of river basin organisations and nature-based solutions. The aim was not so much to showcase achievements as to compare approaches, share initial lessons learnt from the partnerships and capitalise on these experiences to make them useful to the wider community. This session also provided an opportunity to unveil the initial features of the “P2P Knowledge Hub”, the project’s collaborative platform. This platform is gradually being populated with resources produced by the training courses and partnerships: webinars, educational modules, methodological guides, feedback reports, practical tools and other content designed to facilitate peer-to-peer learning. The aim is clear: to make the Hub a key resource for disseminating the knowledge collectively produced by the basin organisations. Finally, two P2P Memoranda of Understanding were signed during the SMB’s closing session on 19 June: one between the OMVS and the MRC, and the other between the authorities of Lakes Atitlán and Titicaca.

By bringing together nearly half of the project partners just a few months after the partnerships were formed, the Summit demonstrated that P2P goes beyond the scope of a mere cooperation project. A genuine international community is taking shape, driven by increasingly direct exchanges between practitioners facing similar challenges, demonstrating the relevance of an approach based on peer-to-peer exchange rather than on the transfer of one-size-fits-all models. The coming months will be devoted to implementing the action plans, organising the first technical exchanges and gradually expanding the P2P Knowledge Hub. The discussions held in Rio provide a solid foundation for the next phase of the project.

The peer-to-peer meetings will also be structured around the roll-out of the project’s educational programme, which will serve as the guiding thread for discussions until the end of 2028. Structured around the key pillars of integrated water resources management (IWRM) at catchment level, this programme offers a series of thematic modules combining webinars, face-to-face workshops, feedback sessions, educational resources and the consolidation of lessons learnt from the partnerships. Each module will serve both as an opportunity to build skills and as a new chance for partners to share their experiences and collectively enrich the Knowledge Hub. The next event in this series will focus on water information systems (WIS), with a webinar to be held in October 2026, as well as some regional face-to-face modules. This momentum will then continue at the Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum in Rome in late September 2026, and at the United Nations Water Conference (UN Water) in Abu Dhabi in December 2026, before reaching another high point at the World Water Forum in Riyadh in 2027, followed by the next World Basin Summit in Namibia in 2028. These milestones will help to support the growth of partnerships and gradually consolidate this international community of cooperation between river basin organisations.

“The P2P project, funded by the EU’s DG INTPA, was prominently featured at the SMB in Rio, as part of INBO’s Twin Basin Initiative. Around 25 project partners were able to meet in person and engage in practical discussions about their joint activities. The thematic sessions also gave P2P a prominent place. The Latin American community was well represented, as were communities from other continents, particularly Africa, with RAOB, which co-leads the project alongside RIOB.“

Christophe BRACHET, P2P Project Manager