Towards joint planning and management of transboundary water resources in Africa 

OSS, represented by the coordinator of the Water Department, took part in a high-level meeting organized by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), in collaboration with the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW), the African Network of Basin Organizations (ANBO), the World Bank/CIWA and GIZ, from May 23 to 26, 2023 in Kampala (Uganda). 

The meeting brought together some 75 participants, including senior executives from African river and lake basin organizations, regional economic communities (RECs), the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and partners in transboundary water cooperation, to discuss joint planning and implementation of water governance and transboundary water resource management in Africa. Its main objective was to share experiences and learn lessons on transboundary water management, with a view to further strengthening cooperation between organizations in the face of today's challenges.

This high-level meeting of stakeholders is the first step in exploring possible areas of collaborative action. 

OSS's intervention, as panellist and session chair, consisted in sharing its experience on the governance of water resources in shared aquifers and on water data and information. 

At the end of these four days of exchanges, a draft joint Declaration on the "High-Level Commitment of all members on the management of transboundary water resources in Africa" was submitted for signature by the members. It will launch the continental campaign to ensure the effective implementation of the "Blue Deal for Water Security and Sanitation for Peace and Development" of the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, in response to Africa's ambition to update the Africa Water Vision 2025 (The post-2025), achieve the goals of the Ngor Commitments, the African Union Agenda 2063, the SDGs as well as the UN Water Action Commitments 2023.
The meeting ended with a tour of the hydroelectric plant and the source of the Nile.