Amidst extreme weather conditions hindering the development potential of the Volta Basin, the Adaptation Fund, through its Project entitled « Integrating Flood and Drought Management and Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Volta Basin(VFDM) », is working to provide appropriate solutions to ensure sustainable socio-economic development and to increase the resilience of communities and ecosystems of the Basin.
In line with this Project, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) and the Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) organized a workshop from 20-22 December 2022 in Mali (national workshops in the 4 countries of the Volta Basin countries i.e Côte d’Ivoire, Bénin, Ghana and Burkina Faso have been conducted already) to develop a Regional Strategy for the prevention and management of flood and drought risks in the Volta Basin. The final national workshop of Togo will be conducted between 30 January 2023 until 1 February 2023.
The three-day workshop was based on an inclusive approach that valued the knowledge and experiences of Basin stakeholders in order to stimulate their active participation. The process of elaborating the strategic document benefited from the technical assistance of CIMA Foundation, and aimed at « integrating the participation of stakeholders through the organisation of national workshops and a regional workshop of Basin stakeholders for the co-construction, deepening and validation of the strategy », emphasized Soussourou Dembele, representing the Minister of Mines, Energy and Water
As such, the elaboration of the strategy followed a process based on the consideration of the results and policy recommendations of the Volta Flood and Drought Risk Profile, various studies, knowledge and experiences of national and local stakeholders involved in disaster risk reduction and management in the 6 countries of the Volta Basin region.
The expected outputs and results of this workshop were quite significant and even though the VFDM is almost coming to its end, some participants, like Mr Djoro Bocoum, the National Director of Hydraulics expressed hopes of witnessing its extension.
Find more information on the Regional Strategy development workshops in Burkina Faso, Bénin, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
