The CIWA program’s objective is to strengthen cooperative management and development of international waters in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to assist in achieving sustainable climate-resilient growth. To accomplish this objective, CIWA supports the institutions that manage and develop the basins, catalyzes and enables transformative water-related investments, and facilitates information gathering and sharing of the benefits of cooperation. Sweden has supported CIWA since 2012, and has over the years seen the program deliver good results. Over all, the program seems to be on target or over performing against most of its intermediate level indicators. Concrete recent examples of results from CIWA include, but are not limited to, the below (copied from the two last annual reports):
350,000 people across the region receive early warning messages during flood season and daily alerts in flood prone areas from the Eastern Nile Flood Early Warning System. An additional 1.7 million people across the region benefit indirectly from these alerts and messages. Lesotho-Highlands-Botswana Water Transfer Identification Study Completed. Riparian states requested additional support to take the investment forward on a trilateral basis. The newly established permanent ZAMCOM Secretariat is leading the development of a basin-level strategic plan, approved by its Council of Ministers, which will include a project prioritization process and policy tools to coordinate efficient management, sustainable development, and equitable utilization of the basin’s shared waters. ECOWAS finalized the Fouta Djallon Water Atlas to help fill knowledge gaps on West Africa’s water resources, much of which originates in the Guinean highlands.....In the Lake Chad region, multiple stakeholders are working together to develop a state of the art ground- and surface-water model to aid in development decision making. The Groundwater Management Institute in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), established in 2008, has begun collecting groundwater data from all 15 SADC member states, benchmarking the data, and implementing national and regional training activities. The Institute has also been granted subsidiary status within SADC, an institutional milestone which will afford it greater independence and increased capacity for financial sustainability.
CIWA was established for a 10-year period (2011-21) with a funding target of $200 million, and a results framework to match. An independent mid-term review of the program in 2015 found that CIWA’s objectives remained highly relevant, its basic operational approach was sound, and made several specific recommendations to strengthen the program, which are now largely implemented. The 2017 Advisory Committee meeting of donors recommended that the World Bank extend the program with an additional 5 years until 2026. To date, almost all funds paid into CIWA have been allocated to pipeline, hence planning of new activities will depend on new resources coming in to the fund. Both Sweden and the Netherlands had indicated willingness to commit new funds for the extension period and the WB is also fund-raising with new donors.
In preparing for the extension Sida decided to submit the contribution to a renewed appraisal process due to i) the long timeframe of the contribution (Sida has already supported CIWA since 2012); ii) the relatively large amounts contributed (284MSEK to date), excluding the here proposed contribution and; iii) the desire to undertake an appraisal by a diverse team in order to fully evaluate the cross sectoral potential of CIWA. The appraisal process culminated in June 2018 with a decision to approve the extension of CIWA and add another 100.000.000SEK to the fund. Follow up will, after the annual report 1 July 2017 - 31 June 2018, be made under the new contribution 10619 WB MDTF CIWA 2018-2026 Cooperation in International Waters in Africa Phase II.
