The overall objective of the national workshops is to contribute to the development of the flood and drought risk management strategy in the Volta Basin.
More specifically, the workshops aim to:
- Present and then have the national stakeholders amend and validate the methodological approach for the elaboration, validation and adoption of the flood and drought risk management strategy in the Volta basin;
- To deepen the state of play of flood and drought risk management with good practices, gaps and major challenges to be taken up for a substantial reduction of the said risks in terms of loss of human lives, damage to livelihoods and health of people, as well as to economic, physical, socio-cultural and environmental assets in the countries of the Volta Basin;
- To develop, in response to the gaps to be filled and the major challenges to be addressed, the different components of the strategy for flood and drought risk management in the Volta Basin, namely: the vision, the horizon, the strategic orientations, the guiding principles, the means of implementation and the budgeted medium-term action plan for the implementation of the strategy;
- Formulate recommendations to be taken into account for a harmonious conduct of the process and an effective implementation of the strategy following its validation by the stakeholders and its adoption by the decision-making bodies of the VBA.
The opening ceremony of the workshop was chaired by Colonel Ba BLE, the representative of the Minister of Water and Forests of Cote d'Ivoire in the presence of the Coordinator of the National Focal Structure of VBA, the Representative of the CIMA Foundation, the Deputy Executive Director of VBA, the Director General of Water Resources of Côte d’Ivoire. WMO intervened on line at the opening through Mr. Jean-Paul Gaudechoux.
The Abidjan workshop was followed by those in Cotonou, Benin and Accra, Ghana.