WACDEP: a lever for creating water security and national expertise for climate resilience.

Within the context of implementation of WACDEP in central Africa, GWP Cameroon in collaboration with GWP-Caf organized in Douala, Cameroon, from August 26th - to 28th  2015 WACDEP project capacity building workshop for national institutions and water organizations on “project preparation related to water security and climate resilience”.

 

The 3 days’ workshop brought together planners in ministries from Cameroon, Chad and Gabon and water professionals from Country Water Partnerships like Cameroon, Central African Republic and Sao Tome and Principe.

 

The main objective of the workshop was, on the one hand to introduce stakeholders the different project preparation key steps, integrating water security and climate resilience in conformity with the funders’ requirements, to know better the financial institutions and also to plead for integrating water security and climate resilience into development planning process and on the other hand to develop no/low regret investment and financing strategies

Within three days, Stakeholders worked in groups under the guidance of the experts dissected project key steps to mainstream how mounting projects looks like. The analysis of each stage such as project concept note, project feasibility studies and structuring as well as project marketing and transacting emphasized the project preparation opportunities and constraints.

Within the perspective of the project implementation, a particular motion was put on identifying different sources of financing for project related to water security and climate resilience.

Lessons learned

  • Embedding water security and climate resilience into development planning process for effective mobilization of water and climate related finances; 
  • Complete confusion between executive agencies and funders on the one hand funders and facilitating institutions on the other hand;
  • Project development obstacles are legislative, regulatory and institutional as well as organizational and financial;
  • Misapprehension/misunderstanding of project preparation key stages;
  • Absence of funds mobilization strategies and dependence on external source of financing project related to water security and climate resilience.

Outcomes

  • Participants have a better knowledge of project preparation opportunities and obstacles linked to their financing;
  • Participants have a better understanding of the different sources of financing water security and climate resilience projects and their accessibility conditions;
  • Stakeholders better understood the difference between funders, executive agencies and facilitating institutions;

Recommendations

To optimize project preparation and funds mobilization Stakeholders recommended to GWP-Caf:

  1. The creation of Country Water Partnership (CWP) in Chad, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to benefit GWP-Caf’s assistance in project mounting and resource mobilizing; 
  2. The organization of CWP forum for experiences and knowledge sharing.