The Senegal River Development Organization (OMVS), which was distinguished on Monday in Dakar, was among the favorites for the Hassan II Grand Prize for Water.
Therefore, this distinction comes as no surprise. On the eve of the opening of the 9th World Water Forum, its name was circulating as the favorite for this prestigious award which, every three years, rewards a personality or an institution active in the water sector. On Monday, on the first day of this largest international water-related gathering, which is underway until March 26 in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, the Hassan II Grand Prize for Water was awarded to the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River.
This award, worth between $100,000 to $500,000, was presented on Monday by the Moroccan Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, to the High Commissioner of the organization, Hamed Diane Semega.
According to the jury, the West African organization, which includes Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea, was distinguished for its work in favor of the “achievement of water and food security” of the great transboundary basin, but also for its action for “peace, prosperity and territorial development” of its member countries.
Set up in 2002, and awarded for the first time during the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan in 2003, the Hassan II Great World Water Prize is an initiative jointly led by the Kingdom of Morocco and the World Water Council, in memory of the late King Hassan II for his actions in favor of international cooperation and the preservation of water resources.
Before this edition of Dakar in 2022, initially planned for 2020 — but postponed due to the Covid pandemic19–, the Hassan II Grand Prize for Water had been awarded in Kyoto in 2003, Mexico City in 2006, Istanbul in 2009, Marseille in 2012, Daegu-Gyeongbuk in 2015 and Brasilia in 2018.
The World Water Forum created in 1997, is organized every three years. The edition organized this year in Dakar is the first to be held in sub-Saharan Africa and the second in Africa after that of Marrakech, Morocco in 1997.
LoS/HA/fss/abj/APA