Volta River Basin Ghana & Burkina Faso - … River Basin Ghana & Burkina Faso Transboundary water...

Volta River Basin Ghana & Burkina FasoTransboundary water management through multi-levelparticipatory governance and community projects

IUCN WATER PROGRAMME – DEMONSTRATION CASE STUDY NO.4

WANI Case Study – Volta River Basin 1

WATER AND NATURE INITIATIVE (WANI) CASE STUDY

VOLTA RIVER BASIN: GHANA AND BURKINA FASOAuthors: Rebecca Welling, Megan Cartin, Désiré Baykono and Ousmane Diallo

In the Volta basin, WANI and partners have worked with riparian states to improve water governance andwater management practices. This has resulted in multi-scale participatory governance frameworks forjoint management of water resources and improvement of livelihoods through riverbank protectionschemes. This has complemented and helped to facilitate large scale government and donor initiativesthat have supported the establishment the Volta Basin Authority. The Volta Basin now has a number oflegal tools, knowledge and capacity to sustainably manage its shared water resources at local totransboundary levels.

As a response to development challenges in the Volta Basin, WANI launched the project ‘Improving WaterGovernance in the Volta River Basin’ to demonstrate change in water governance and management.WANI and partners aimed to improve water governance through consensus on key water managementprinciples and to institutionalise coordination mechanisms. Livelihood projects were also supported withthe aim of both demonstrating integrated management of water resources at the local level and buildingtrust and capacity for developing governance mechanisms.

Important lessons have been learned and among these is the understanding that stakeholders andpartners are more willing to participate when they see tangible results and improvements in their everydaylives. It has also been shown that community-level participation in transboundary water resourcemanagement is achievable and adds value to conventional transboundary approaches. It is also clear thatwith government backing of a structured framework, multi-level governance can be achieved across largeriver basins.

Experience in the Volta Basin has created new opportunities and partnerships with other basins in Westand South Africa. There are partnerships with the river basin commissions in West and Central Africa,such as in the Lake Chad Basin, the Congo and Obangui and in Senegal and Niger which are underdiscussion.

Highlights

m Code of Conduct established between Ghana and Burkina Faso providing a framework forcooperation on the management of shared water resources in the basin.

m Supporting the establishment of the Volta Basin Authority to coordinate management of the waterresources in the Basin across all 6 riparian states.

m Joint Transboundary Committee established for the coordination of joint activities and conflictresolution between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

m Development of an integrated governance framework to link local to national governance structures.

m Pilot projects linked livelihood benefits to IWRM and water governance mechanisms.

m Knowledge and information about the basin gathered through surveys and studies to provide data fordecision-making.

m Water management planning and mapping using knowledge tools.

Figure 1. Map of the Volta River Basin (Source: Final evaluation, PAGEV project, IUCN)

2 WANI Case Study – Volta River Basin

1.1 Transboundary waters

The Volta River Basin in WestAfrica has a surface area ofapproximately 400,000 km2

across six countries: Benin,Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire,Ghana, Mali, and Togo. It isthe ninth largest river basin insub-Saharan Africa.

About 85% of the Volta basinis located in Burkina Fasoand Ghana while Togo,Benin, Cote d'Ivoire and Malishare the remaining 15%.The basin is divided into fourmajor sub-basins: the BlackVolta, the White Volta, the Otiand the Lower Volta. TheVolta Basin is home to nearly19 million people whodepend directly or indirectlyon the resources of the river.Therefore the Volta Basin isan important asset for thedevelopment of the ripariancountries.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES IN THE

VOLTA BASIN

Important citiesRiver coursePagev–pilotBasin boundary


1.2 Environmental and institutional challenges

The Volta River Basin faces enormousdevelopment challenges. Poverty and increasingpopulation pressure have led to the extensiveexploitation of natural resources contributing towater scarcity, land degradation and the siltation ofriver channels.

Despite the fact that most of these challenges callfor basin-wide responses, the Volta Riverremained one of the main transboundarywatercourses in Africa without an internationaltreaty and without a basin-wide coordinationmechanism. Limited consultation and coordinationbetween Burkina Faso and Ghana combined withuncoordinated policies and development initiativeswere serious threats to the sustainablemanagement of Volta Basin.

For many years the basin had no formal legal andinstitutional arrangements to manage disputesover resources. Tensions between Burkina Fasoand Ghana stemmed from misconceptions about

the causes of climate variability and changes inflow patterns of water resources. For example,downstream floods in Ghana were attributed tospillage from dams in Burkina Faso and at timeswhen the amount of water in the dams in Ghanawas low (due to climate variably and changes inflow patterns of the river) water consumption inBurkina Faso was suspected of being the mainreason for the reduced water levels.

1.3 Water laws and institutions

In 1996, Ghana adopted a Water Resources Actthat established the Water ResourcesCommission (WRC), an umbrella institutionresponsible for the regulation and management ofwater resources. In Burkina Faso, a new WaterFramework Law was adopted in 2001 and underthis legislation, the Directorate of Water Resources(DGRE) is responsible for managing the country’swater resources. With these laws and institutionsin place, both Ghana and Burkina Faso had plansto pilot test their water policies in selected sub-basins.

The Volta River

2.1 Demonstration approach

As a response to these challenges, WANI andpartners established a demonstration site in theVolta Basin and launched the pilot project‘Improving Water Governance in the Volta RiverBasin’ (or PAGEV – Projet d’Amélioration de laGouvernance de l’Eau dans le bassin de la Volta).PAGEV was based on three key areas of WANI’svision: knowledge, capacity building (at all scales)and good governance. In partnership with nationalpartners, including the Directorate of WaterResources in Burkina Faso, the Water ResourcesCommission in Ghana and community municipalassemblies, the project aimed to improve watergovernance through consensus on key watermanagement principles and toinstitutionalise coordinationmechanisms. To ensure political andinstitutional changes, PAGEVfacilitated public participation,dialogue and negotiation betweenthe government and civil society.This built consensus on a set of keyprinciples to guarantee equitableand sustainable water resourcesmanagement.

Simultaneously, PAGEV supportedthe strengthening of institutions at alllevels and the inter-connectionsbetween these institutions throughthe creation of a decision-supportinformation base. This was createdto inform constructive dialogues andcollaboration on water managementbetween Burkina Faso and Ghana.The project also integrated waterresources management and theprotection of the environment withpoverty alleviation through riverbankrestoration and pilot projects aimedto improve local livelihoods.

2.2 Improving water governance

Multi-level governancemechanism

By 2000, Ghana and Burkina, unlikemost countries in the sub-region,had significantly advanced on thedevelopment of their water policies,


Technical Advisory Committee

Knowledge products – WEAP-Volta

BURKINA FASO and GHANALocal GrassrootsCommunity pilots

BURKINA FASO and GHANA

National-level Committees

Local Trans-boundary Committee

Code of Conduct

VOLTA BASIN AUTHORITY (VBA)

ÍÍ

ÍMALI

COTEd’IVOIRE

BURKINA FASO(Water

Directorate)

GHANA(Water ResourcesCommission)

White Volta BasinBoard

NakanbéWaterAgency Í

Í

ÍTOGOBENIN

REGIONAL / BASIN LEVEL

TRANS-BOUNDARY LEVEL

NATIONAL LEVEL

LOCAL LEVEL

2. TOWARDS SOLUTIONS: ACTIONS AND RESULTS

based on the principles of Integrated WaterResources Management (IWRM). These policiesrecognized the need for collaboration andagreements on internationally sharedwatercourses. If effectively and fully taken intoconsideration, these policies offered a good basisfor reaching an agreement for the equitable andsustainable management of the Volta River. In bothGhana and Burkina Faso, the adopted legal andinstitutional frameworks for the management ofwater resources promoted integrated basinmanagement, equitable access, water for natureand international cooperation. That said, none ofthese policies had yet reached a fullimplementation stage, which is among the

Figure 2. The Volta Basin’s participatory multi-scale governance framework


reasons why they had not strongly influencedcollaboration of the two countries on the VoltaRiver. However, the countries had planned to pilot-test their water policies in selected sub-basins,which is where WANI and partners were able toplay a role in demonstrating the results of effectivewater governance on water resourcemanagement in the Volta basin.

WANI, through the PAGEV project, supported thesetting up of local, national, transboundary andregional governance frameworks to improve themanagement of water resources in the Volta Basinfocused on Burkina Faso and Ghana as theyshare most of the waters. As Figure 2 shows, theframework of the decision-making process ismulti-scale and participatory, involving local grassroots committees, national level committees, theLocal Transboundary Committee at the cross-national level and finally, regional level planning iscoordinated through the Volta Basin Authority.These multi-level connections facilitatecommunication between all stakeholders and helpto build trust and capacity across the basin. In thesection below, this framework is unpacked andthe linkages between the local, national andregional levels are explained.

REGIONAL LEVEL: Volta Basin Authority

As a result of processes facilitated in part byPAGEV, commitments to joint approaches towater governance in the basin were furtherstrengthened in December 2005 when Ministersfrom the six riparian states (Ghana, Burkina Faso,Benin, Togo, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire) agreed aprotocol on formation of the Volta Basin Authority(VBA). The VBA was established to manage thewater resources and other related resource in theVolta Basin in a holistic manner, with each countryworking together to manage the sharedresources. Assisted by PAGEV, in 2007 the sixbasin countries signed a Convention on theStatus of the Volta River and the Establishment ofthe Volta Basin Authority. With the ratificationprocess underway and the Volta Basin Authority inits formative phase, a series of actions wereundertaken by a joint initiative of WANI, theDirectorate of Water Resources of Burkina Faso,and the Water Resources Commission of Ghana.

By 2010, 5 countries of the Volta Basin hadratified the agreement, including Mali, Ghana,Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso bringing theConvention into effect. Information about the VoltaBasin Authority is available on the dedicatedwebsite: www.abv-volta.org.

Regional forums: VBA in action The VBA has been active in facilitating workshopsand forums at the regional level, as it hosted thefirst regional forum on water for agriculture and firstregional forum on the Volta basin sustainableunderground water resources management in2009. With a clear Strategic Plan in place by2009, PAGEV supported the VBA to conductstudies to develop Pre-investment and StrategicPlans for the Volta Basin. The VBA Convention inAugust 2009 presented an opportunity to fosterstronger collaboration and scaling up PAGEVexperiences to other riparian countries of the VoltaBasin by reinforcing capacities of experts from allthe riparian countries and supporting thedevelopment of VBA’s plans.

These workshops and forums facilitated by theVBA have enabled key issues in the basin to behighlighted and have showed countries how torespond to these challenges and what help isneeded to do so. These platforms for dialogueand discussion have also supported stakeholdersto reconcile national problems through regionalapproaches.

Strengthening the VBAWANI has continued to play a supporting role tothe VBA. Under the second phase of WANI, theproject is working closely with the VBA to supportboth strategic development of the institution andimplementation. In 2010, WANI supported thefinalization and stakeholder endorsement of theVBA Strategic Plan, including collaborationagreements for joint actions between the focalinstitutions of VBA and local stakeholders. WANIhas also supported the establishment of a basin-wide information system by the VBA and hascontinued to support the VBA in establishing thedecentralized institutional framework needed forconsensus building and implementation.


m Management principles of the Basin’s sharednatural resources related to sustainabledevelopment, integrated water resourcesmanagement, cooperation and governance;

m Guidelines on environmental flows, integratedstrategies, harmonization of laws and policies,good environmental practices, and steps tocreate a multilateral convention for coordinatedmanagement of the Basin;

m Joint actions including the development andimplementation of policies and strategies;

m Implementation institutional mechanismsincluding the Secretariat and the ConsultativeCommission;

m International assistance and Conflict resolutionincluding diplomatic negotiations and peacefulresolutions.

Development of the Code waspart of a series of joint actionsby the Directorate of WaterResources of Burkina Faso andthe Water ResourcesCommission of Ghana. Withsupport from WANI, the JTC-IWRM hosted a harmonizationworkshop with representationfrom both countries that led tofinalization of the Code in June2006. The Code of Conduct isnow being used as the modelfor developing a Water Charterfor the Volta Basin that can besigned by all six riparian States,with support from the projectunder a cooperation agreementbetween IUCN and the VoltaBasin Authority.

NATIONAL LEVEL: Forums to consolidatepartnerships for water management

National Forum meetings were held to consolidatethe local partnerships in Burkina Faso and Ghanain 2006. Participants at the meetings included theexecutives of the Riverbanks ProtectionCommittees, District Chief Executives, TechnicalServices of the local administration, and NGOs. In2008, the 5th national forum for communities ofthe White Volta sub-basin in Ghana was held. Thegathering validated its Strategic Plan forimplementation in 2009. The forum was an integralpart of the project and fostered participatoryplanning towards a concerted management of theWhite Volta basin resources.

TRANSBOUNDARY LEVEL: Code of conductand the Transboundary Committee

Code of conduct In order to manage water resources acrossnational boundaries, a management tool wasneeded which could clarify the roles andresponsibilities of different actors. This wouldenable conflict resolution and build a collectiveunderstanding of how to manage water resourcesand respond to environmental problems. A ‘Codeof Conduct’ for the Volta Basin was thereforerequired to enable various stakeholders to cometogether to create a common goal which isfounded on accepted knowledge and information.Burkina Faso and Ghana agreed to develop aCode of Conduct between their two countries.

At the national level, WANI supported thedevelopment of the Code of Conduct by the

The border between Ghana and Burkina Faso on a tributaryof the Volta River in dry season – the river is the border

Burkina-Ghana ‘Joint Technical Committee onIWRM’ (JTC-IWRM). This initiative was launched in2005 with the aim of providing assistance to thetwo States on the development and managementof shared water resources in the basin. In 2006,national validation workshops were convened ineach country to ensure input was received fromgovernment agencies, NGOs and civil societygroups.

Consisting of eight sections and 59 articles, theCode of Conduct outlines a framework fordecision-making and action as follows:


In 2011, two national learningworkshops were organized inBolgatanga in Ghana and Tenkodogo inBurkina Faso on adaptive capacity toclimate change. A total of 96participants from 15 communities inPAGEV sites attended to discuss andvalidate data collected on climatehazards and local communities’ capacityto adapt to a changing climate. Thesenational forums develop plans thatharmonize the local initiatives and reactto local and national priorities. This isessential to enable the scaling up fromlocal to transboundary arenas, linkinglocal communities into decisions-makingprocesses which scale right up to theregional level governance mechanisms.

LOCAL LEVEL: Local TransboundaryCommittee

Supported by WANI, in 2008, the Statutes andStatutory regulations of the Local TransboundaryCommittee of the White Volta sub-basin weresigned by Ghana and Burkina Faso, creating thefirst local structure of its kind. The JointTransboundary Committee coordinates jointactivities across the border, solves any local levelwater use problems and disputes, andstrengthens cooperation between the twocountries. This is transboundary water governanceat the local community level, whereas the VoltaBasin Authority operates at the highergovernmental levels.

In order to address the challenges of linking thelocal and the conventional transboundarystructures in view of the establishment of the VoltaBasin Authority, a model for coordinating theforums was proposed. PAGEV commissioned astudy to prepare guidelines for the operations ofthe joint transboundary forum in 2007 which led tothe establishment of a Local TransboundaryCommittee for the management of the White Voltasub basin.

This facilitated the development of a strategicaction plan for implementation in 2009. Theforums also provided platforms for the localcommunities to share their concerns with theheads of local authorities. In 2010, the 1st GeneralAssembly of the Local Transboundary Committeeof the White Volta sub-basin (CTGEN) was held.This was the first General Assembly since theprotocol was signed in 2008. This transboundary

Village chief Kwame Ludovic working with the communitieson the local level pilot projects

committee was jointly agreed by Ghana andBurkina Faso for the management of the Nakambésub-basin water resources and aims to rationalizethe use of water and prevent water-relatedconflicts between the two countries. The 14-member committee has equal representationwith 7 representatives from both Ghana andBurkina Faso.

2.3 Ecosystems and livelihoods

Livelihoods and reforestation

WANI supported the implementation of livelihoodprojects which aimed to demonstrate integratedwater resources management at the local leveland build trust and capacity through establishingthe linkages between livelihood benefits and watergovernance. Through these livelihood pilotprojects, PAGEV provided the knowledge,technical advice and funding to help communitiescombat environmental degradation and provideincome opportunities (See Box 1).

2.4 Knowledge and information

Creating baseline data: Surveys andassessments

Without crucial information about the nature of thewater resources in the basin, key decisions couldnot be taken on how to manage these resources.Therefore, to improve water governance in thebasin, essential baseline data was gathered toinform decision-making processes at all levels(see Box 2).


Socio-economic surveys Key knowledge and information systems werecreated to support planning, decision making andmonitoring of interventions. Detailed socio-economic surveys of the pilot communities on thebanks of the White Volta were completed inAugust 2006. The surveys were also conductedmid-way through the project and have providedgood baseline information in terms of socio-economic conditions and problem analysis andinsight into the priority needs in the communitieswhile at the same time keeping a focus on IWRMissues. The studies were carried out with thecommunities to encourage support, ownershipand participation. As a result of this work, areas inthe basin were identified where water scarcity wasa problem.

Water audit In 2007, a water audit was conducted by a teamof experts from Burkina Faso and Ghana andaimed at improving the understanding of thedynamics of water availability and demand and

Box 1. Ecosystem rehabilitation for livelihood improvements

m 7 communities (4 in Burkina and 3 Ghana) were mobilized to form river bank protection committees;

m A small dam at Sakom in the Bawku West District of Ghana, which was breached in 1998, has beenrehabilitated to ensure that water is available in the floodplain for dry season vegetable farming andrice cultivation. An estimated 1,137 people now have access to water for dry-season farming;

m Approximately 16 kilometres of river banks in the pilot zone have been planted with approximately 27,000 trees seedlings to stabilise the banks and provide fuel wood;

m 6,500 imported fruit seedlings (mangoes and guavas) were planted to provide alternatives for incomegeneration to support livelihoods;

m 6 farmers’ groups (5 per group) from Burkina and 13 groups (5 per group) from Ghana were supportedwith 19 water pumps to expand dry season farming in December 2009;

m 4 communities in Burkina Faso were supported to dig 3 wells each to supplement their domesticwater supply and support dry season gardening. Two wells were constructed and one old wellrehabilitated in 2 communities in Ghana;

m In 2011, a total of 19 communities across Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo were participating incommunity level joint actions;

m River Bank Protection Committees were set up to ensure environmental sustainability and supportagricultural activities through reforestation of banks;

m Farmers received awareness raising, financial and management training and were introduced toalternative farming techniques;

m 36 women were provided with support to increase their household incomes. In Burkina Faso, a 26-member women’s group were supported with seedlings to cultivate on the river banks afterflooding in 2007. The group reported harvesting onions worth 631,000 FCFA (nearly 962 Euros), whichenabled each woman to contribute about of 23,000 FCFA (35 Euros) to the group’s savings account;

m 20 women benefited from support with livestock rearing, receiving at least 2 sheep or goats each.

predicting the impacts of various uses underdifferent scenarios. Preliminary results showed thatclimate change would impact dry season wateravailability and put increasing pressure on thescarce availability of water during these times. Thewater audit has been made available to theimplementation institutions in both countries toinform decision-making on water resourcesmanagement. In addition, situation analyses ofGhana and Burkina Faso were carried out in 2008which provided further information.

This report was validated at a workshop in 2007 inGhana which added value to the findings of thestudy. This process forms an important aspect ofthe Decision Support Knowledge Basecomponent of PAGEV that WANI promotedtowards data and information exchange betweenBurkina Faso and Ghana. This workshop helpedto informed decision makers for improved watergovernance of the shared water resources on theone hand, whilst strengthening bilateralcooperation on the other.

Box 3. Mapping tools and water quality checks

Valuable baseline and thematic maps have been produced using satellite and high resolutionIKONOS imagery under a collaborative arrangement with VIASAT Geo-Technologies of Canada.These maps have been used as monitoring tools to determine the impact of the project activities andas tools to support communities’ education and awareness campaigns.

WANI and partners provided support for assessments of water quantity and quality discharge and torehabilitate gauging stations. Fourteen samples comprising 11 well water and 3 river water werecollected from the PAGEV pilot zone in Ghana and Burkina Faso and analyzed to categorise thequality of water from wells provided to communities by the PAGEV Project and of selected hotspotsalong the river channel.

Water quality tests in the Volta Basin

Knowledge tools: Water management planningfor climate change

The Water Evaluation and Planning system, orWEAP, developed by the Stockholm EnvironmentInstitute's U.S. Center, aims to incorporatefreshwater management challenges into apractical, robust tool for integrated waterresources planning. In 2008, PAGEV and partnersset up a single application of the WEAP model forthe Volta Basin (WEAP-Volta). The WEAP- Voltamodel was presented at the 5th meeting of theTechnical Advisory Committee on IWRM in WestAfrican organised by the Water ResourcesCoordinating Centre of ECOWAS. As a result,around 40 experts from Burkina Faso, Ghana andBenin received training on the use of the WEAP asa water resources management planning tool in2009 and 2010. The training is supporting theestablishment of a network of expertise which the


Box 2. GLOWA-Volta project

Funded by German Government, the projectwas already underway when WANI andpartners initiated the PAGEV project in theregion and it provided vital research on waterresources management to PAGEV activities.The GLOWA-Volta partnership aimed todevelop a scientifically sound decisionsupport system for the assessment,sustainable use and development of waterresources in the Volta Basin.

can be drawn upon for water management in thebasin. In addition, the scenarios formulated withthe WEAP also contribute to managing risks fromclimate change and promote dialogue.


3.1 Synposis of results

While water laws and institutions for managingwater resources were in place in both Ghana andBurkina Faso, the implementation of IWRMprinciples were not fully demonstrated and therewas a lack of regulatory processes ormechanisms to manage basin water resources.While the willingness to discuss transboundaryissues was present, the lack of baselineknowledge of the basin and the absence of majorwater users in decision-making processes andgovernance frameworks limited the ripariancountries’ ability to manage the water resourcessustainably. This situation was compounded byenvironmental degradation, adversely affectinglivelihoods of communities in the basin.

The PAGEV project and partners effortscontributed to turning this situation around throughstrengthening communication between Ghanaand Burkina Faso, creating multi-scaleparticipatory governance frameworks for jointmanagement of water resources and improvinglivelihoods through riverbank protection schemes.

3. RESULTS AND LESSONS LEARNED

Sub-basin knowledge collection and consolidationthrough the water audit and other studies hashelped to build capacity and supported decision-making processes. Legal tools, including theCode of Conduct, the Local TransboundaryCommittee and the Volta Basin Authority have nowbeen established to tackle basin-wide issues,resolve conflicts and to provide the framework tomanage share water resources sustainably.

3.2 Lessons learned

Many lessons have been identified from WANI’swork carried out in the Volta basin. The mainlessons are:

1. Alignment of activities with national prioritiesand linkages with government policy processesare needed for larger-scale impacts. Whennational interests are positioned with regionalinitiatives such as basin authorities, which havethe political hardware and infrastructure tosupport transboundary collaboration, waterresources governance can become a reality atmultiple scales and across national boundaries.

Community preparation session for reforestation activities


Figure 3. The Volta Basin before and after

BEFORE

No regional/basin-wide body to manage the Volta Waterlaws in place but lack of demonstration of IWRM inpractice

Willingness to discuss transboundary issues but fewprocess mechanisms in place

Lack of civil society involvement in governance of waterresources

Lack of knowledge of the water resources in the basin

No regulatory procecss of mechanism to manage basin water resources sustainable

Livelihood insecurity due to environmental degradation

AFTER

Basin issues beginning to be tackled through pilot sites

Volta Basin Authority formewd and regional forums held

Code of Conduct established between Ghana and Burkina Faso

Local transboundary participation in governance

Livelihoods improved through local pilot schemes

Greater knowledge through the water audit and other studies

2. Stakeholders and partners are more willing toparticipate when they see tangible results andimprovements in their everyday lives such asincome generation schemes, water supplyfacilitation and conflict reduction. Addressingsome of the issues that are important to thecommunity will help considerably in gainingtrust and a commitment to engage in widergovernance issues and initiatives.

3. Community-level participation in transboundarywater resource management is achievable andadds value to conventional transboundaryapproaches. Facilitation of community-basedmanagement actions have demonstrated thatplanning and implementation of IWRM can besuccessfully shared between communitiesacross boundaries.

4. Building a local knowledge base with gooddata and information systems is important indeciding the most efficient allocation ofresources. Such a tool allows a thoroughunderstanding of the relationships andscenarios within the basin such as wateravailability, trends, demands and conflicts, andcan then lead to better management decisionmaking. Improving the technical abilities ofstakeholders and water managers increasesunderstanding of the environment in which theyare working and the issues that affect themand develops better capacity for planning andmanagement of water resources.

4.1 Basin Authorities

The Volta Basin Authority has been successfullyestablished with a comprehensive structure, ledby a strategic plan. With this framework in place,the VBA has now begun to carry out coordinationactivities at the regional level and will continue tostrengthen its capacity to do so in the future. Onesuch activity involves bringing stakeholderstogether to share information and knowledge,which the VBA did in 2010 through a workshop topresent and validate hydrometeorological studydata from the Volta Basin.

4.2 Cross-country experience sharing

WANI’s experience in the Volta Basin has creatednew opportunities and partnerships with otherbasins in West and South Africa. Cross regionalexperience sharing has taken place between theVolta Basin, the Komadugu-Yobe Basin in Nigeriaand Hennops River basin in South Africa.Collaboration with WANI projects in Latin Americanhas also seen the exchange of knowledge andgovernance tools as the Tacana Watershedsproject has incorporated the principles of the

Code of Conduct from the Volta basin into basinplanning and management. Another example ofregion-wide approaches is the region-widedialogue on dams (see Box 4).

As a result of WANI experience and expertise inbasin wide IWRM governance processes offacilitating and developing in the Volta andKomadugu-Yobe basins, further partnerships arebeing formed in West and Central Africa (LakeChad Basin), the Congo and Oubangui and inSenegal and Niger.

4.3 PAGEV: Towards the start of a third phase ofthe project

A third phase of intervention is currently beingplanned. This aims to focus on governancethrough building institutional capacity in the VoltaBasin as well as continuing to support the VBA inimplementation of its activities. Finally, the projectwill aim to support the restoration of ecosystemsand building adaptive capacity to combat theadverse effects of climate change.


Box 4. Region-wide dialogue on dams 2009–11

At the regional level in West Africa, WANI co-invested in a major Economic Community of West Africa(ECOWAS)-led region-wide dialogue on dams (the ‘Regional Dialogue on Large HydraulicInfrastructure in West Africa’). The goal of this process is for recommendations from the dialogue tobe adopted by the ECOWAS member States, regional institutions and regional River BasinOrganizations in their energy and water policies. WANI was tasked with convening and facilitating acivil society platform for knowledge exchange and dialogue with governmental and regionalinstitutions.

Two fora for civil society were held in Mauritania and Mali. Training in advocacy was conducted forcivil society participants from 15 countries, enabling strong civil society participation in threeECOWAS-led workshops which brought together civil society representatives, basin organizationsand States. Civil society participated in the development of recommendations to an independentexpert-review panel in 2011.

4. NEXT STEPS

Donor support

DGID-WANI, Global Water Partnership (GWP), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), GEF,German Government (through ZEF – GLOWA project), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

WORLD HEADQUARTERSRue Mauverney 281196 Gland, [email protected] +4122 999 0000Fax +41 22 999 0002www.iucn.org/waterwww.waterandnature.org

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