WWF SAF Mara River Basin Project Proposal

WWF
Annual Plan 2007 – Mara River Basin Management Initiative
iv.
Start and facilitate a process to introduce or revive existing community organisations,
where forums and working groups have been established, and management actions in
the catchment are becoming more sustainable;
v. Document best practices and failures in terms of sustainable management and
conservation, and promote the sharing and exchange of these lessons through
demonstrating measures in the field, community exchange visits and communication
measures;
vi.
vii.
Build capacity amongst key stakeholders including vulnerable groups (small scale
farmers, poor urban dwellers and women) for effective and sustainable IRBM; and
Develop and promote recommendations for the development of an integrated water
resource management strategy for the Mara River Basin, including appropriate policies
and laws to secure sustainable management and conservation.
Activities towards each of the above listed outputs are described in the main text of this proposal.
The NBI NELSAP Mara Project is now in its initial stage and has established an office in
Musoma, Tanzania. Once this project is fully operational it is recommended that the outputs and
activities be reviewed and, if necessary, modified to minimise overlap between the two projects
and to develop synergies.
Project Implementation
The Project takes an integrated river basin management (IRBM) approach. The IRBM approach
requires that the Project combines activities in the field level with policy work both at the national
and regional levels for the transboundary Mara River Basin. This approach follows from a
realisation by WWF and others in the region that it would be important to engage with
stakeholders at the local level (field level) at the same time as working at the national and later to
regional policy dialogue/negotiations on frameworks for integrated management of the Mara River
Basin.
WWF-Norway has the overall responsibility for the Project and the administrative, financial and
technical reporting to Norad and provides policy and technical support to the Project. Day-to-daymanagement
of the Project in the region is the responsibility of WWF Eastern Africa Regional
Programme Office (EARPO) with its staff in Kenya (Nairobi, Narok) and Tanzania (Musoma, Dar
es Salaam). The Project maintains links established with the WWF Global Freshwater, including
the WWF River Basin Portfolio, WWF-Norway and USAID in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and United
State of America.
In addition to close links with a range of local level non-government partners and stakeholders,
cooperation with government institutions at national, catchment/basin and local levels will
continue as key components of the Project. Private sector has so far only to a limited extent been
successfully engaged, which necessitate increased efforts in this respect.
Regional agencies and initiatives such as the East African Community (EAC) and now also the
NBI NELSAP are becoming increasingly engaged. The EAC with its Lake Victoria Basin
Commission may well be the long-term institutional home for a transboundary water resources
management mechanism.
A project organisation chart is included in Appendix IV and further description of the
implementation arrangements in chapter 6 of the main text.
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