The two-day workshop brought together more than thirty beneficiaries of the project, national agencies, and organizations from across the Lake Chad Basin countries. It had as objective to collect additional information for the project concept note and share details of the project with the main stakeholders in the LCB countries to create a mutual understanding of the proposed project objectives, benefits, and the implementation strategy among national and regional institutions, thereby building a solid platform for the successful development and implementation of the project from regional to national to the community level.
This workshop follows research carried out in late 2021 by GWP-CAf and LCBC coordinated by WMO during which questionnaires were sent out to national authorities in the hydrological and Meteorological services and main stakeholders in the LCB countries with the objective to identify gaps so the right challenges will be addressed in the project concept note. During the workshop, participants were briefed on the project whose objective is to provide the necessary hydrological basis for climate resilience and water resource management in the Lake Chad basin by providing practical guidelines and concrete technical solutions.
Stakeholders gave valuable feedback on the importance of the project activities, especially for communities and local level engagement, and provided deeper insights into their climate adaptation needs which will go a long way to enrich the project concept note. They stressed the importance of consulting and associating vulnerable groups (women, youths) and local communities in the project development and implementation phase to advert community conflicts. Stakeholders reiterated their countries' commitment and ownership of this project, as it is important for their sustainability.
The main beneficiaries of the EWS (Early Warning System) project in the Lake Chad basin countries include National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NHSs), Disaster Management Organizations (DMOs), regional organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, and communities.
Background
Upon the request of the LCBC, GWP has been supporting the development of the IWRM and EWS project which will relaunch HydroMet monitoring activities in the basin and set up an early warning system for water-related disaster risks, particularly floods and drought.