Dear Stakeholders of the Water Sector,
The Executive Director of the Volta Basin Authority, based in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), sends you best wishes for the New Year 2023.
Year 2022 has passed with all the upheavals. Despite that, it has proved successful with impact on the water community in the Volta Basin and beyond.
The last moments of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, was a great challenge, but thanks to effective cooperation and collaboration, we were able to implement several activities. Thus 2022 was marked by the 9th World Water Forum which was an excellent opportunity for VBA to strengthen its visibility through active participation in most of the sessions.
Moreover, it is worth to note that VBA has made significant progress, particularly in the implementation of the VFDM Project funded by the Adaptation Fund and implemented by the WMO-VBA-GWP/WA Consortium. The project has contributed towards more effective intervention of the stakeholders involved through (i) the development of an Integrated Flood and Drought Forecasting and Early Warning System, (ii) the training of more than 1,150 senior workers, including 500 women from the national services and agencies involved in flood and drought management, and (iii) the holding of 40 national and 6 regional workshops.
VBA also actively participated in regional transboundary water resources management projects in partnership with ANBO, WETLAND International/WA Office, OSS, WASCAL, UNEP, IUCN, CILSS, GWP/WA, MBA, NBA, the African Union, UEMOA and ECOWAS Commissions, with the support of the European Union, AfDB, and other technical and financial partners.
The Volta Basin Authority mobilized new partners and signed four new memoranda of understanding for new initiatives in the pipeline.
Overall, 2022 is a stepping stone toward greater achievements in the years to come.
We have drawn from our achievements and challenges, to plan the activities for 2023, when most of our new projects will be starting, namely,
1)- Knowledge Building for Action against Regional Vulnerability and towards Strengthening of Resilience in the Volta basin”/AfDB & (AWF-ADA-TSF Pillar III);
2)- Reversing Ecosystem and Water Degradation in the Volta River Basin (REWarD-Volta River Basin/ GEF);
3)- Energy Planning and Modelling through Integrated Climate-Land-Energy-Water Nexus Assessment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cases of the Volta and Tana River Basins (EPIC Africa/EU Project) over the period 2023-2025.
This year 2023, will also see efforts concentrated on mobilizing funds for many other achievements planned to attain levels of expectation and overcome the challenges in achieving the sustainable development goals in transboundary water management.
We renew our confidence in the Integrated and Concerted Water Resources Management in the Volta basin, hoping to strengthen collaboration and collective action in pursuit of the sector’s objectives.
The Executive Directorate of VBA hopes this year, 2023, will bring more concrete and fruitful results.
The Executive Directorate of VBA
