Its regional consultations in Eastern Africa were supported by GWP Eastern Africa Secretariat as part of wider consultations being conducted across Africa to tap on the rich and diverse experience of Basin Organizations (BOs) in formulating a strategy and action plan for ANBO.
The two-day workshop was held in Kigali on August 1-2, 2014 with the following specific objectives:
(a) Introduce tor regional stakeholders the on-going EU-funded project - Strengthening Institutions for Trans-boundary Water Management in Africa (SITWA)
(b) Assess the key needs of Basin Organizations in Africa with respect to technical assistance and capacity building
(c) Collect views of stakeholders in the Eastern Africa region on the potential future roles and structure of ANBO
(d) Gather view on potential partners in the East Africa region who could facilitate the work of ANBO
(e) Collect suggestions on possible actions to feature in the 10-Year Strategy and 5-Year Action Plan of ANBO
The following stakeholders attended the workshop:
- Lake and river basin organizations - Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), Nile Equatorial Lake Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP), Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO), Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), Lake Kivu and Ruzizi River Basin Authority(ABAKIR), Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA)
- Regional Economic Community Secretariats – the East African Community (EAC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),
- Members of the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW)
- Regional Power Pools - Eastern African Power Pool (EAPP), EAC Power Sub-sector;
- Civil Society Organizations
- Other key stakeholders in trans-boundary water management – Water Ministries in Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Ethiopia);
The consultations were very successful and generated a lot of discussions and suggestions on future activities.Specifically, the following outputs were realized:
(a) SITWA project was introduced to stakeholders in the Eastern Africa region; at the end of the consultative workshop there was greater awareness of both SITWA and ANBO amongst the participants;
(b) Key needs of BWOs in the region with respect to technical assistance and capacity building were identified, discussed and prioritized;
(c) Potential future roles for ANBO were proposed after extensive discussions;
(d) Proposals were made for potential partners that could facilitate ANBO operations in the region; also identified were potential co-founders or sponsors of ANBO programs; and
(e) A detailed action plan for consideration in development of the ANBO 5 year Action Plan was prepared.
The greatest achievement of the regional consultation was to increase knowledge and raising interest in ANBO and SITWA in the Eastern Africa region. This is expected to lead in the near future to increased membership and greater activity amongst BWOs of the Eastern Africa region.
Top photo: The participants of the workshop