On the 17th of March 2020, just a week before World Water Day, VNG International and Join for Water (formerly known as Protos) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in Mali.

The MoU represents a joint expression of the interest and the will of both to engage in strengthening local governance in the Malian water sector for sustainable use of water resources. It also indicated the relations between the Netherlands, Belgium and Mali as friendly countries, who are connected through their work with, and passion for, water. It is this interlinkage that the partnership between Join for Water and VNG International hopes to explore.

The MoU allows expertise to be shared, as well as themes in which VNG International and Join for Water work complement each other, such as Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) – and for new initiatives to be coined. Therefore, thanks to the cooperation between Join for Water and VNG International, activities can be further harmonized and strengthened. More specifically, the two parties undertake initiatives to jointly develop a concrete program of collaboration to exchange and share knowledge.