Horn of Africa

In the Horn of Africa, BRIDGE supports the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in coordinating member states’ efforts in the water sector and help in developing mechanisms for coordination including supporting the negotiation on the IGAD Regional Water Resources Protocol. Also, supporting in capacity building and dialogue around benefit sharing, international water law and hydrodiplomacy as they relate to transboundary water governance.

Sio - Malaba - Malakisi River Basin (Kenya-Uganda)

BRIDGE activities in SMM transboundary basin include supporting a Benefit Opportunity Assessment Dialogue (BOAD) process whose main objective is to ensure that joint decision-making processes for shared water resources management and development yield better and more sustainable benefits across different stakeholders for multiple uses.  This includes moving beyond infrastructure investment to also prioritize catchment restoration working across sectors, including through forest landscape restoration, to ensure the sustainability of water resources.

*Work in the Sio-Malaba-Malakisi was co-funded by the US State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) 2016-2018

Latest news stories

Deal imminent for East Africa’s model transboundary water basin

Uganda and Kenya have been working on the planning of the management and development options for the transboundary Sio-Malaba-Malikisi sub basin of the Nile for a while now and are close to signing a revised Memorandum of Understanding that will guide the management and development of the sub basin, a transboundary resource between the two countries, whose successful implementation will result in a model to be replicated by other regions to address water crises.

Promoting transboundary benefit sharing: Kenya stakeholders’ consultative dialogue for the Sio-Malaba-Malakisi basin management and development framework

March 2021. IUCN and IGAD Secretariat with funding from Swiss Development and Cooperation (SDC) through BRIDGE 4 initiative supported a Kenya National Stakeholders Dialogue held in Naivasha, Kenya from 11-12 February 2021.

The Sio-Malaba-Malakisi basin: Strengthening transboundary water cooperation between Kenya and Uganda

10 January 2020: The Sio-Malaba-Malakisi (SMM) is a transboundary basin of the Nile River, shared between Kenya and Uganda. With a population of four million, the SMM consists of a variety of ecosystems including lakes, rivers, forests, game reserves and national parks which are home to a rich variety of fauna and flora.

IGAD Water Technical Advisory briefed on progress over Water Programme

15-07-2018, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): The IGAD TAC Water Resources Management embarked on a two-day meeting aimed at being briefed on the ongoing IGAD Water Programme, the recent developments in instruments of international water law, and to be exposed to the concept and logical steps of mainstreaming gender in policy and programme cycles.

Second SMM stakeholders’ workshop, May 6 - 9, 2018, Mbale, Uganda

24 May 2018 - IUCN, UNECE and IGAD Secretariat with funding from OES US State Department and SDC supported the Second SMM stakeholders’ workshop held from May 6th-9th, 2018 in Mbale, Uganda.

Transboundary benefit-sharing: discussing the opportunities for the Sio-Malaba-Malakisi basin

July 2017: The Sio-Malaba-Malakisi (SMM) basin, shared between Kenya and Uganda, faces constraints from reduced water quality and quantity in large parts of the river catchments. Despite the potential for development and investment, the basin remains underdeveloped, limiting economic growth.

IGAD Keeps on Building Capacity of Member States in Transboundary Water Governance

From 27 to 28 February 2017, a Regional Training on Hydrodiplomacy and Negotiation Skills for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Water Resources Protocol Negotiation Members, was held under the leadership of the Director of Agriculture and Environment Division- IGAD, Mr. Mohamed Moussa, with the support of Mr. John Owino and Mr. Juan Carlos Sánchez from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Ms. Sonja Koeppel from the United Nations Economic Cooperation for Europe (UNECE), and Mr. Yeneneh Teka from the United States State Department in attendance at the high table.

IGAD, IUCN and UNECE launch project to support transboundary water cooperation in the IGAD region

December 2016: Transboundary water cooperation often brings many more benefits than expected, but they are frequently not fully perceived and not appropriately communicated to policy-makers. In 2015, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the Horn of Africa requested support from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and from the UNECE Water Convention secretariat to strengthen the understanding of and catalyse potential actions on the enhancement of benefits from cooperation in one transboundary basin in the region.

Enhancing hydro-diplomacy to facilitate the review of the draft IGAD Regional Water Resources Protocol

July 2015: The IGAD component of BRIDGE Africa Project is supporting IGAD to finalize its draft Protocol on Regional Water Resources.  The project convened a second regional meeting from the 6 - 8 July 2015 in Naivasha, Kenya attended by senior government officials who form the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the IGAD on Water Resources, legal experts from the IGAD Member States as well as staff from the IGAD Secretariat) that reviewed the IGAD draft Protocol on Water Resources.

Enhancing Hydrodiplomacy and benefit sharing in the IGAD Region

May 2015: As part of the implementation of the BRIDGE Africa IGAD component, the IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held a meeting from 6th – 8th May 2015 in Entebbe, Uganda.

BRIDGE in the EastAfrican: Supporting food, water and environmental sustainability

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BRIDGE Areas of Work