CIWA Quarterly Bulletin
Welcome to CIWA’s Quarterly BULLETIN!
For the first time as CIWA Program Manager, I, Anders Jägerskog, am pleased to share this fifth quarterly edition of the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa Program (CIWA) Bulletin. We invite you to discover or rediscover CIWA’s latest news through blogs, articles, podcasts, and more.
I am taking the opportunity to share my excitement to join a vibrant and impactful program strengthening transboundary water cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Together with Deputy Program Manager Ai-Ju Huang and other members of CIWA team, our hope if to further develop the program, drawing on global experiences and lessons learnt.
Please make sure you are also following us on Twitter – @CIWAProgram.
Happy Reading!
Anders Jägerskog and Ai-Ju Huang
CIWA Program Managers
IN FOCUS: First in Person Implementation Support Mission for the CIWA's funded Nile Cooperation for Climate Resilience (NCCR)
The NCCR Project Team Leaders, Yukio Tanaka, Anders Jagerskog, and Shyam KC visited last week the NBI’Secretariat headquarters in Entebbe for an Implementation Support Mission (ISM). The NCCR project development objective is to improve mechanisms for regional cooperation on water resources management and development in the Nile Basin, with an aim of building resilience against water insecurity as a result of climate change impacts in the Nile River Basin.
What’s making a splash
PROVIDING WATER FOR FOOD SECURITY TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN SADC COUNTRIES
In Zimbabwe and Botswana, SADC-GMI implements projects that are transformative and life-changing to the communities on the ground.
CELEBRATING A DECADE OF COOPERATION: WATCH OUR CIWA BIRTHDAY VIDEO!
CIWA’s managers, country partners, development partners, and team members shared their views on the program.
LAKE VICTORIA: PROTECTING THE LARGEST OF THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES
Lake Victoria has the potential to serve as an economic powerhouse. Protecting it is the promise of a green, resilient and inclusive future.
A MORE GENDER EQUAL WORLD IN TRANSBOUNDARY WATER MANAGEMENT
Ellen Haggerman, Senior Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) Expert for the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) Program, discusses the role of women in transboundary water management.
REFLECTING ON 20 YEARS OF TRANSBOUNDARY WATER ENGAGEMENT IN WESTERN AFRICA
Read the impacts and lessons learned in this new report on World Bank regional water projects in West Africa have focused on transboundary water cooperation and management.
A CONVERSATION WITH THE DIRECTOR OF HYDROLOGY IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Kone Saramatou, from the Ministry of Hydraulic Works in Côte d'Ivoire, walks us through the country's experience in being a part of regional cooperative efforts involving transboundary waters management.
What’s new in transboundary waters cooperation
CIWA joined the 9th World Water Forum 2022
CIWA team actively participated in a number of sessions. Among others: "Data collection across Africa's river and lake basins", "Promoting peace by developing and implementing legal frameworks for transboundary water resources", "Developing capacities, improving training: the role of international cooperation”. CIWA Program manager was also pleased to announce CIWA’s forthcoming support to the Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin. We look forward to the next edition in 2024, in Bali.
CIWA organized a Table Ronde in Mauritania
Early March, CIWA Program organized in Nouakchott a week-long roundtable featuring Sahel-based university-level instructors of groundwater sciences from Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. CIWA team co-leaders & roundtable facilitators François Bertone and Mariam Sou led discussions on the need for training focused on hydrogeology and the issue of gender & the equality factor in hydrogeology training opportunities in the Sahel.
A workshop with CIWA Donors to focus on biodiversity
The working session on Transboundary Waters and Biodiversity Conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa was held in March. The CIWA Team shared the key findings of CIWA's retrospective of biodiversity-related activities that the program supported over the last 10 years, and presented and discussed with all donors the partnership's proposals for the CIWA pipeline and its biodiversity conservation related goals and activities. Stay tuned for more info on our CIWA website.
Groundwater at the Heart of the Water Security Equation
As climate change impacts intensify and many people turn to groundwater for their primary water supply, Eng. James Sauramba, Executive Director of the SADC Groundwater Management Institute, continues to say that it becomes even more critical that we work together to sustainably manage this precious resource.
UN World Water Development Report 2022
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022: Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible was launched on 22 March, 2022. For those who missed it, Chapter 8.1 – Regional Perspectives on Groundwater – Sub-Saharan Africa, and Chapter 12 Transboundary Aquifers are particularly relevant to the cooperation in international waters in Africa space.
A Vicious Cycle: Climate and Conflict in the Horn of Africa
The Nile River Basin and Horn of Africa section contains multiple readings about the lamentable droughts that are affecting the lives of millions across the Horn -the International Crisis Group podcast by Nazanine Moshiri, Crisis Group’s climate and security expert is highly recommended.
Bold action needed for a water secure africa
Bolder action is needed to scale up what works well and address systemic obstacles to water security and universal sanitation. On the African continent, many pressure points need transformative action for a greener, more resilient future.
The first International Annual Forum for Lake Chad Development was held in Abuja.
LCBC and the Governments of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, thanks to the Lake Chad Recovery and Development Project (PROLAC) and the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project for North-Eastern Nigeria (MCRP), jointly organized this hybrid forum mid-April 2022.
CIWA LEARNING NOTES SERIES: FOCUS ON GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
The CIWA Learning Notes form part of CIWA’s commitment to promoting the adoption of a transformative approach to GESI by recognizing the need to undertake multiple interventions across many sectors and levels to tackle the root causes of gender inequalities and shifting gender relationships within the transboundary water context in Africa at both the project and institutional level.
The first Learning Note seeks to reflect the technical input that CIWA’s GESI expert provided as part of the process
to review CIWA’s Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) product and projects at the preliminary phase.
The second Learning Note focuses on capturing lessons learned and recommendations from CIWA’s support to NBI’s gender equality work from 2012 through 2020. This support was provided primarily through the Nile River Basin Support Program and the complementary project, Nile Cooperation for Results.
Save the date for these upcoming events
SIWI World Water Week 2022
Le World Water Week 2022 will take place online and in Stockholm, Sweden (8/23/2022 till 9/1/2022). CIWA is contributing to the forthcoming session at SIWI’s Water Week on ‘Sharing hidden treasures: how to improve transboundary groundwater cooperation’, scheduled on 8/25/2022 at 20:00-21:20. Stay tuned for a full session program.
IWA-WHO International Conference on Water Safety
Le 2022 IWA-WHO International Conference for Water Safety will bring together leading international experts from academia, industry, government, policymakers/authorities and other organizations to actively exchange, share, and challenge state-of-the-art research on water safety.
CIWA’s social media engagement
This week, NBI hosted a @WorldBank et de @ciwaprogram team for an Implementation Support Mission (ISM), a $30 million project for the “Nile Cooperation for Climate Resilience” (NCCR) funded by the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa.
— Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (@ciwaprogram) April 22, 2022
.
More at: https://t.co/RXrgRh5Urb pic.twitter.com/bkkXerQjQX
Excellent visit with @NelsapCu to the Rusumo Falls Project, scheduled to be finalized within the year providing much needed electricity to Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. pic.twitter.com/QaLZMVSXOw
— Anders Jägerskog (@AndersJagerskog) April 23, 2022
How can we improve basin-level water management? We need better access to #data because we can’t manage what we can’t measure. #remotesensing #data provide one of the solutions to better understanding #transboundary #water across #africa. Watch @NooshaTL from @ciwaprogram https://t.co/Fz84Ok5O3v
— Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (@ciwaprogram) March 31, 2022
The need for cooperation in transboundary waters is essential urgent⚠️
— Simeon Ehui (@simeonehui) April 7, 2022
Le @WorldBank & @CIWAprogram are now uniquely positioned to support efforts to improve the management of resources & “tip the balance from conflict to cooperation.”https://t.co/dB5hWMRKRD @WorldBankAfrica
ABOUT CIWA
CIWA, a multi-donor partnership, continues to support riparian governments in West, East, Central, and Southern Africa and their path toward more sustainable, data-driven, community-focused, and collaborative management of transboundary waters.
Learn more about our program activities on our English et de French Websites. And do follow us on Twitter @CIWAProgram
To subscribe to the CIWA Podcast, copy and paste the URL from the address bar into the podcast app of your choice https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1734582.rss
Photo Credits: Shutterstock, Unsplash Images, World Bank and Flickr