Public Group on Water and Sanitation

Africa’s transboundary basins, rivers, lakes and aquifers provide fresh water to more than one billion people. These water sources are vital for agriculture, energy, industry, drinking water, fishing, transportation, biodiversity and ecosystems. Coordination among countries that sharewater resources is of utmost importance to ensure sustainable development, economic growth, peace and stability.

The European Union and its Member States are establishing the Team Europe Initiative on Transboundary Water Management in Africa to support development and regional integration across the continent.

Objective of the Team Europe Initiative

The main objective of this initiative is to support transboundary water management in Africa to strengthen regional integration and sustainable development. To achieve this objective the Team Europe Initiative will:

• Improve continental policies and knowledge regarding water resources management, and their coherence across scales.
• Enable cooperation and peer learning among transboundary basin bodies.
• Improve transboundary IWRM and WEFE nexus approaches for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation.
• Increase investments of transboundary relevance enabling economic development and regional integration.
• Create space for African bodies to advise continental, regional, and basin organisations on transboundary water management actions.

Areas of action

The initiative has several areas of action:

1. Policy and strategies development, including coherence across scales and linking transboundary water to key African political frames (African Union, Regional Economic Communities, National Development Strategies, etc) and thematic strategies (Agenda 2063, Africa Water Vision 2025, etc).
2. Improving knowledge, analytical tools and information systems to sustainably manage water resources and adaptation to climate change.
3. Capacity development for continental and regional stakeholders on the aspects of inclusive, gender and youth responsive water security pillars: governance, cooperation, technical expertise, planning and independent funding.
4. Strengthening transboundary water management and Lake and River Basin Organisation’s governance and institutional organisation, including statutory bodies, policy for decision-making, human resources, capacity development, partnership relations with other sectors and regional bodies.
5. Introducing novel approaches for transboundary cooperation, such as multi-stakeholder partnerships, built on the principles of the water stewardship and a renewal of integrated water resource management approaches, at transboundary level.
6. Strategic planning for measures and actions, including adaptation to climate change.
7. Consolidation of independent and sustainable financing for Lake and River Basin Organisations by harnessing various means of funding.
8. Supporting knowledge and project preparation for investments of transboundary relevance designed for joint benefits.

Geographic scope

The geographic scope of the initiative would bear transboundary basins in Africa. The basins that are currently targeted include the Senegal and Gambia basin and aquifers, the Niger basin, including sub basins of Mekrou, Sankarani and Benue, Lake Chad basin and aquifers, the Nile river basin, the Congo-Ubangi-Sangha basin, Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, Lake Kivu and Ruzizi river and Lake Tanganyika, the Volta river basin and aquifers, the Zambezi river basin, the Okavango river basin, the Orange-Senqu basin and aquifers, Limpopo, Mono, and Chove basins, and the Juba-Shebelle basin and aquifers.