The Nile Basin Discourse (NBD) and Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation (LVRLAC) on Wednesday 19th June signed a memorandum of understanding that aims at sustainable development and management of natural resources as well as the community in the Great Lake Victoria region.
This great milestone was witnessed by signing documents at the Nile Basin Discourse office in Entebbe.
According to Eng. Sylvester Anthony Matemu the Regional manager of the Nile Basin Discourse, the partnership will enable the two institutions to collaborate in the major areas of support including multisectoral approaches, end investments, advocacy, capacity building, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the water resource management in the lake Victoria basin which is part of the Nile basin in the larger picture.
“In recognition of the benefits to be gained through a cooperative agenda that promotes sustainable development interventions in the Lake Victoria basin, NBD management resolved to partner with LVRLAC in that regard, and the impact to be realized from the partnership will be significant because NBD brings the voices and perspective of several societies towards sustainable management and development of the Nile basin water resources while LVRLAC coordinates and strengthens collaborative efforts of local authorities towards sustainable utilization, management and conservation of the shared natural resources in the Lake Victoria basin,” he said.
Engineer Matemu also noted that the Nile Basin members cannot achieve the programs and projects without the local authorities’ participation which is why they build bridges between the communities and the policymakers for better decision-making.
“There is complementarity between what LVRLAC is doing and what NBD is doing that is why we need to hold hands and move together because we are serving the same people since even the Lake Victoria basin is part of the bigger Nile basin making a good connection as well as avoiding the duplication of efforts,” the NBD’s regional manager added.
Godfrey Wasswa the General Secretary of the Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation (LVRLAC) said that this partnership will be gainful in terms of bringing local people closer as well as improving sensitization so that they understand what they are supposed to do.
“We are looking at bigger, bolder, and better, so as LVRLAC we are committed to this memorandum of understanding and promise to implement it to the best of our efforts,” he added.
The executive director of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Dr. Florence Grace Adongo remarked that this is a milestone gained in a positive progress and strangle to make sure that there is sustainable management and development of the water resources of the Nile.
Adongo also said that since Lake Victoria is part of the Nile basin, they have governance challenges for example countries in the region negotiated the network agreement that allows equitable utilization as sustainable management and development of the common resources to handle issues of poverty, low development in terms of economic, and also use it as an opportunity for integration, peace, and sustainability.
“I know that in the implementation of the memorandum of understandings, there are always problems but let’s see how together we can demonstrate it with actions on the ground that can benefit the community, and as NBI we remain open to all of you to share information, knowledge, and opportunities to manage the common resource together,” she concluded.
Other delegates who witnessed the signing of this partnership include; Verdiane Nyiramana the NBD’s chairperson, Ms. Agnes Namusiitwa the chairperson of NBDN – Uganda among others from both initiatives.
About NBD
Nile Basin Discourse (NBD) is a network of civil society organizations established in 2003 with the support of the World Bank and other development partners to strengthen civil society participation in Nile Basin development processes, projects, programs, and policies.
It has evolved into an independent network of over 600 member organizations throughout the Nile Basin. Member organizations are local and national CSOs/NGOs working on a range of issues relevant to Nile cooperation; including environmental conservation, agriculture, energy, gender equity, livelihoods, poverty reduction, and others.
NBD is registered in Uganda as a regional Non-Governmental Organisation with a coordination Secretariat based in Entebbe and 11 Nile Discourse Forums (NDFs) operating in the eleven Nile riparian States (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda). These NDFs are networks that have established critical national and regional level partnerships with NBI and other partners.
About The Author
