Page 51 - CIWA-AR24
P. 51

Horn of Africa













         joint regional study on appraising climate   desalinating water, current reverse   Regional Learning Events: The HoA GW4R
         risks and their effects on groundwater   osmosis installations with solar panels or   program delivers, through IGAD  and
         resources in  the  HoA.  This  will lead to   photovoltaic reverse osmosis sites,   enhanced with the support of CIWA’s
         development of a joint knowledge base   bottlenecks  for  introduction  and  technical expertise, two regional events
         on  climate  variability  effects  on  proliferation of desalination technologies,   per year to share knowledge, address
         transboundary aquifers and regional   and guidelines for identifying safe   common  project  implementation
         collaboration through data integration   groundwater sources in high-salinity   challenges, reach agreements on regional
         and knowledge sharing. With CIWA    settings. Because of technical capacity   activities,  and  expand  regional
         support, experts are helping with quality   issues and high capital and operational   collaboration and coordination functions
         control of the terms of reference and   costs in poor remote rural contexts, local   for groundwater management. The events
         providing technical guidance to IGAD and   application  of  desalination  at  the  (two in Kenya and one in Ethiopia) have
         country teams leading this activity.   community level is challenging. The   facilitated agreements on a data-sharing
                                             guideline on decision making with high   protocol on groundwater, getting feedback
         Based on the outcomes of these      salinity sources is being used to inform site   on IGAD-implemented activities, bringing
         completed knowledge products, the   selection.                         new knowledge in the form of innovations in
         World Bank, through CIWA support,                                      the region for rural water supply delivery,
         signed a contract in February 2024   World  Bank    Engagements    in  discussing and agreeing on the way
         with the UNDP Borderlands Center that   Transboundary  Aquifers:  Lessons  forward  on  project  implementation
         includes an MoU with UNICEF and     Learned,  Challenges,  & Way  Forward   bottlenecks, and improving communication
         UNESCO    to  enhance  the  learning   (internal hybrid event), August 2023:   and coordination.
         agenda for the HoA GW4R program.    This session was organized during Water
         This collaborative  effort seeks to   Week 2023 and shared lessons learned
         maximize the impact of the GW4R     from program design during previous
         program by addressing key knowledge   activities  involving  transboundary
         and capacity gaps, strengthening project   aquifer development and management
         monitoring  in  remote  areas,  and  that can inform the design of similar
         enhancing  technical  support  at
         sub-national and local levels, with   operations  to  improve  program
         particular emphasis in FCV areas. The   implementation.  Knowledge  sharing
         work is structured around three pillars: i)   included  recommendations  on
         enhancement of the HoA Groundwater   institutional and legal aspects, information
         Data Hub, supported by UNESCO,      and data sharing, and technical and
         centers on HoA data collection for the   procurement considerations to inform the
         groundwater   information  system,  design  of  a  transboundary  pilot
         long-term regional data sharing, capacity   (Dhobley-Liboi in Kenya and Somalia).
         building of the IGAD Groundwater
         Center, and knowledge dissemination; ii)   The  Groundwater  Capacity
         applied research to strengthen the   Development Program in Somalia: The
         GW4R implementation, supported by   program aims to strengthen the
         UNICEF, will enhance understanding of   capacity and technical knowledge of
         the drilling market and rural water supply   key project staff in Somalia. It will be
         management models including social   adapted  and replicated in other GW4R
         and fragility dimensions; and iii) capacity   countries. The learning modules will be
         building and application of lessons   translated into Somali, recorded as
         learned in project implementation, led by   videos,  and  uploaded  on  a
         the  UNDP,   focuses  on   project  distance-learning platform in 2024. The
         implementation support at the local level   training  program  provides  a
         and in remote fragile areas.        comprehensive primer on how to develop
                                             and manage groundwater in the HoA,
         Component 2: Enhanced               including   hydrogeology,   water
         institutional capacity on           governance,  planning,  and  community
         groundwater management              water management, and complements
         Addressing the Groundwater Salinity   the institutional strengthening activities
         Crisis in the Horn of Africa (virtual),   embedded in the GW4R program to build
         February 2024: The project conducted a   the capacity of the Ministry of Energy and
         webinar on different methodologies for   Water Resources.






                                                                                                            46
   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56