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East Africa

Dam Safety Capacity Building:
Under this thematic area, NELSAP‑CU is well advanced with
various activities nearing closure. The data collected under the
regional dam inventory has been incorporated into a centralized
online database, which was endorsed at the governance level and
is now available on the NBI website. NELSAP-CU has also facilitated

field work for validation of some of the newly added records that
were picked up by remote sensing. These field visits took place in

Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Establishing and strengthening National Dam Safety Units (DSUs)
have undergone several rounds of quality enhancement. New
DSUs have been established in Burundi, the DRC, and South Sudan.

ENTRO continues to advance the activities under this thematic

area. It finalized the Reference Regulatory Framework and its
associated outputs. An implementation roadmap has been
developed for each participating Member State, and ENTRO is
working with individual countries to support increased awareness
and adoption of these reference materials.

NEXT STEPS

The development of the DEWS has been underway since
October 2023 and, in FY26, will be validated while also enhancing
capacity for drought forecasting at national forecasting centers.
ENTRO will involve Young Professionals in forecasting and early-

warning tasks for the 2025 flood season for Eastern Nile countries,

and the NELSAP-CU will continue to provide flash-flood forecasts
for the Nile Basin.
The Nile‑SEC will complete water‑quality equipment installations

and testing for the remaining countries. NELSAP-CU will hold a final

regional workshop to validate deliverables and finish the reports for
Track 1 and Track 2.
In terms of the platform for cooperation, the overall context
evolved during FY25, including the entry into force of the Nile
Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) in October
2024. The countries in the basin are engaging in dialogue on
modalities for cooperation between countries that are part of
the CFA and those that have not signed the CFA, including an
envisaged transition from NBI to the Nile River Basin Commission
2
(NRBC). It is expected that any transition will be a gradual process
that will not disrupt current activities of NBI, nor of the NCCR.

The implementing agencies noted limited availability of funds
to sustain NBI activities beyond November 2025, when the
NCCR project closes. The World Bank team is working closely
with the agencies to ensure sustainability of project results.

2 https://issafrica.org/iss-today/nile-river-basin-commission-
regional-strife-could-make-a-difficult-task-impossible

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