adminMukudzei Chingwere
Herald Reporter
A HIGH-LEVEL delegation from countries that share the basin of the Nile River is in Zimbabwe to learn how the country and its neighbours share the Zambezi River basin.
The Nile Basin Initiative secretariat is undertaking an experiential learning and dialogue tour of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission headquartered in Harare.
The tour is targeting senior Government officials from ministries responsible for water, foreign affairs and finance, who make decisions impacting transboundary water management.
The Nile Basin Initiative is an intergovernmental partnership of 10 Nile Basin countries: Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Zambezi Watercourse Commission executive secretary Mr Felix Ngamlagosi said: “We are hosting a very high-level delegation from the Nile Basin Initiative, who have come to Zimbabwe to learn and also share their experiences on how to manage the water resources.
“As you know, our region is facing a number of challenges. We have issues of drought which are disasters; sometimes we have floods; we have issues of poverty in the region; and inadequate infrastructure compared to our potential.
“Those challenges need a holistic approach in terms of how to design programmes and projects that will focus on addressing these challenges in the Zambezi region and this is what we are focusing on.
“It seems that what we are doing is attracting interest from different stakeholders including, like now, the Nile Basin Initiative.”
Executive director Nile Basin Initiative Dr Florence Grace Adongo said: “The experiential tour to the Zambezi Commission provides one of our core activities in terms of building capacity of the member states to enhance cooperation and cooperative management and development of common water resources.
“So, here we have come with the permanent secretaries, principal secretaries and undersecretaries from ministries of finance, foreign affairs and those responsible for water together with the technical advisory committee members from all these countries of the Nile to participate in an experiential tour.
“We want to see what Zamcom has achieved, the challenges they have and also share experiences on common areas and try to see how to enhance cooperation for the benefit of all the countries.
“So, while we have come to learn from Zamcom, which is bringing eight countries together, we also would like to share our experience.”
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development representative Engineer Tatenda Mawokomatanda said: “It’s a peer-to-peer learning process, where the Nile basin countries are visiting the Zamcom. The Nile basin team has come so that they learn what is happening here.”
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