Benin, local water committees to boost grassroot action

The Benin Country Water Partnership has started a process to establish local water committees (LWC) in micro basins as part of the Multi Year Programme 4 (MYP4) with the technical and financial support of Protos and the Belgian Development Cooperation.

The study conducted by the CWP to identify potential micro-basins came out with selection criteria focusing the existence of the water resource and multiple uses of the resource, the existence of potential / possible conflicts, and a willingness of stakeholders to come together to preserve the common resource. Among these criteria are also the existence of a holder/proponent; the existence of significant water-related risks.

The results of the investigations were presented on 16 February 2018 to stakeholders including deconcentrated public services, Town halls, Users and other partners during a workshop. This meeting has validated Lake Toho (shared between the municipalities of Houéyogbé, Lokossa and Athiémé) and Lake Djètoè (shared between the municipalities of Athiémé and Lokossa) as potential sites for setting up the LWC in the Mono basin. The experiences of water resources co-management in the Mono basin capitalized on the "Transboundary Biosphere Reserve" (TBR) project by GIZ was also shared.

The roadmap for the implementation of the LWCs around these water resources will be drawn up building on the products of the capiltalisation of a similar process carried out in the Ouémé basin by the CWP-Benin, which will be updated and developed to facilitate the process in the Mono basin.