GWP Eastern Africa trains water professionals in IWRM

From 19-23 May 2014, the GWPEA in partnership with the Kenya Water Partnership and the Nile IWRM Net organised a regional training workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as a tool for adaptation to climate change. The training aimed to strengthen the capacities of the countries in the Nile Basin and regional organisations for understanding climate change impacts and develop and implement adaptation programmes. 

  • The IWRM training course was held in Nairobi, Kenya and was attended by a total of 28 participants, mainly young water professionals from national water authorities and other sectors in the Nile basin. Participants were drawn from the Nile basin countries of Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan Uganda and Somalia.

Objectives of the training

  • To build capacity of  participants to address challenges of climate change on water resources within the framework of Integrated Water Resources Management
  • To assist participants to identify opportunities for adapting to impacts of climate change by applying IWRM approaches.
  • To increase knowledge and understanding of the challenges posed by climate change
  • To provide an opportunity for sharing knowledge, experiences and best practices regarding climate change adaptation using IWRM approach.

The training covered the following key areas:

  • Introduction to IWRM and climate change
  • Understanding drivers and impacts of climate change
  • Climate change, water interaction and impacts to produce sectors
  • Dealing with uncertainities
  • Techniques for assessing impacts
  • Climate screening the water sector
  • Integrating climate change adaptation into water resources development and management
  • IWRM as an adaptation tool
  • Field trip/study tour to Thika Dam (Ndakaini dam)
  • Conclusion and way forward after the training

The workshop concluded with the following recommendations:

  • The workshop must serve as a TOT’s tool
  • Participants must be pioneers of IWRM and climate change
  • Participants must share information and material with others – colleagues, students, workmates, etc…
  • Participants must make use of the knowledge and lessons learnt in their respective fields and countries
  • Participants must keep on maintaining networking and information sharing after the workshop
  • Participants must always share good practices and home-grown initiatives across the net in IWRM and climate resilience

GWP Eastern Africa field trip May 2014

The Nile IWRM Net is a Nile Basin capacity building network for Integrated Water Resources Management founded in March 2005 as a Cap-Net affiliated regional network. Its objective is to scale up IWRM knowledge, and strengthen regional cooperation in capacity building for sustainable water resources management in the Nile Basin countries. Nile IWRM-Net currently has 138 members (individuals & institutions) from its 9 country chapters and 1 regional Secretariat each with a Coordinator. The current host of the regional secretariat is the Agency for International Development (AFID) in Uganda.

Top photo: The participants of the workshop

Inset photo: A field trip to Thika Dam was included in the workshop