Transboundary CuvKun project falls short on fifth component

The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa project has thus far achieved several feats, but it has fallen short on its fifth component.

This is according to regional project coordinator Silvanus Uunona.

Uunona gave a presentation on the Cuvelai and Kunene Transboundary River Basins (CuvKun) project and its connection to the Drylands Sustainable Landscapes Impact Project (DSL-IP). The talk took place at Oshakati during the start of a six-day training session on the farmer field school concept for roughly 45 agricultural extension and forestry officers.

The fifth component of the CuvKun project focuses on enhancing community participation in integrated water resources management to build resilient livelihoods.

Uunona said while a lot has been achieved through other project interventions, activities under component five were delayed. This was due to policies, standards, operating procedures and conditions that needed to be met to avoid, mitigate and manage potential adverse environmental impacts.

He said the CuvKun project includes activities similar to those of the DSL-IP, such as excavating new earth dams and rehabilitating old ones, rainwater harvesting, disaster risk management, upgrading water points and establishing early warning systems. Under the DSL-IP, farmer field schools will be established across three target landscapes in northern Namibia’s Mopane-Miombo Belt: the Kunene-Cuvelai landscape, the Oshikoto landscape and the Kavango landscape.

He said the CuvKun projects consist of six components. Component one of the project calls for strengthening the transboundary and conjunctive water resources management in the Cuvelai River Basin, while component two seeks to strengthen the transboundary water resources management with future development scenario analysis in the Kunene River Basin.

Component three, says Uunona, is to strengthen the governance of the Cuvelai and Kunene River Basins to foster joint management by the two countries in the most effective way while component four calls for strengthening the institutional, technical and operational capacity in Angola to sustainably develop and manage the sub-region’s water tower located in southern Angola.

Component six of the project is to support outreach and knowledge management for replication and stakeholder engagement.

“The project has really achieved a lot, except for activities under component five because of some administrative and operational delays,” said Uunona.

Uunona said the project is funded by the Global Environment Facility with US$11.2 million through the United Nations Development Programme, running from May 2024 to November 2029.

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