Development Under Water Duress by Ms. Chibesa Pensulo, Programme Manager, Knowledge Services, SIWI

The most arid country in sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia is a country fully aware of its need to manage its water resources efficiently. This year, Namibia’s bulk water utility, the Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) has entered into a one-year collaborative programme with SIWI together with the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) to build local capacity to better address some of the country’s water sector challenges.

Project Info

• Project Team: Anton Earle, John Joyce, Josh Weinberg
• Partners: Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (MEP-FECO), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Wuhan University
• Co-finanaced by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection Foreign Economic Cooperation Office and Sida
• Timeline: November 2012 – December 2013

An arid country with a dispersed population, Botswana faces major challenges in water resources management and service provision. The country’s dry climate is exacerbated by high rainfall variability, with years of drought commonly being followed by flooding in local areas. The Government of Botswana has recently reviewed its national water master plan and embarked on mission to restructure the country’s water sector. In July 2011, SIWI – a policy institute with an internationally renowned track record in water sector capacity building – and the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources of Botswana signed a Memorandum of Understanding for SIWI’s support in this process. Over the past year, SIWI has worked with Botswana’s government to develop a series of training courses, which will run from March 2012 – December 2013.

This programme is jointly funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Government of Botswana.

Smarter structure for water governance in Botswana
Water resource management and water supply services in Botswana are governed under the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, which divided management between the Department of Water Affairs and the Water Utilities Corporation. In the past, the Water Utilities Corporation was responsible for water supply in urban areas, while the Department of Water Affairs was in charge of both water resources management and water supply service provision in rural areas. Administration was further complicated by district councils that were responsible for local water and sewer reticulation. The current changes will give the Department of Water Affairs exclusive mandate over water resources policy and management, while the Water Utilities Corporation will be responsible for water supply and wastewater management for the entire country.

Recognising that its existing policies and organisational structures for the water sector were no longer meeting the needs of its citizens, the Government of Botswana undertook a review of its National Water Master Plan in 2006. Under the guidance of the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR) and based on the recommendations of the review, a reform of the water sector was initiated in 2008.

Under the reform, the DWA would relinquish its service delivery responsibilities in order to focus on water resources management as its primary function and the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) would take on the role of providing water and wastewater services for the entire country. A modern regulatory regime will also be developed, and an independent Water Resources Council established to oversee and allocate the nation’s scarce water resources. These reforms have required redeployment of staff from DWA and local municipalities to WUC, as well as capacity building in the new institutional mandates.

In July 2011, MMEWR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SIWI to support the capacity building of DWA, WUC and other water sector stakeholders. The capacity building programme is made up of eight courses on: corporate transformation and change management; integrated water resources management; research and benchmarking methodologies; water resources policy; integrated data management; climate change and variability in water resources management; water allocation and management; and wastewater management and reuse . Each course consists of three one-week modules, spaced about two months apart. This modular structure enables participants to more effectively integrate their learning into their day-to-day work, and avoids long absences of essential staff from their duties. SIWI will also support the DWA in establishing a Knowledge Services Hub, which will be a national centre of excellence, conducting applied research, monitoring local and global trends in water management, and providing policy advice to the Department. The Hub will also facilitate cross-learning among sector institutions. It is envisaged that the Hub would continue the capacity building process initiated though this partnership.

Funded by the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), this current project will implement a Regional Capacity Building Programme over a 3 year period to promote and enhance water integrity in sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected that increasing water integrity will directly impact on socio-economic development and poverty reduction. Indeed, unethical practices reduce economic growth, discourage investments, violate human dignity, increase health risks and compromise efforts to reduce poverty. The implementing partners are (1) WGF (2) the Stockholm International Water Institute – SIWI, (3) the Water Integrity Network – WIN, and (4) Cap-Net in collaboration with WaterNet.

Through partnership with ECOWAS, EAC-Lake Victoria Basin Commission and SADC, the programme targets water sector stakeholders (those responsible for the management of water resources and for integrated water supply and sanitation services) at regional, basin and national levels who are responsible for regulation, controlling, planning, policy development and decision making. It also targets stakeholders that are less directly involved in water management, but have a key role in strengthening or demanding accountability, such as water users associations, advocacy organisations and the media.

Generally, ECOWAS, EAC and SADC countries have committed themselves to integrity and accountability through good governance and the promotion of transparency and accountability.  Their secretariats, together with the implementing partners of this programme, will reinforce the regional efforts to bolster integrity at all levels in the water management and service delivery chain.

Project info

• Link and resrouces: http://www.watergovernance.org/integrity/SSA
• Project team: James Leten, Maria Jacobson, Marianne Kjellen, Ana Cascao, Rami Abdel Rahman
• Client and partners: ECOWAS, EAC-Lake Victoria Basin Commission, and SADC. Implemented by Water Integrity Network  (WIN), Capnet and WaterNet
• Financed by Sida
• Timeline: July 2011-June 2014