In this collaboration framework together with the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), a project proposal entitled “Mono climate shield project: Strengthening adaptation and resilience to climate change through integrated water resources and flood management in the Mono River basin shared by Benin and Togo” has been submitted and approved by the Adaptation Fund in December 2021. A two-day meeting was held on 14 and 15 April 2022 in Cotonou, Benin to collect the expectations and needs of all participants on the one hand, and on the other hand, to agree on the priority aspects to be integrated into the concept note (CN) of the project to be submitted to the Adaptation Fund.
The workshop was also an opportunity to exchange with the participants on the scope of the project and its objectives. The official ceremony was led by the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Water and Mines of Benin, Prof. Agnidé Emmanuel LAWIN.
While promoting exchanges on the scope of the project and its objectives, the meeting made it possible to achieve, among other things:
- a common understanding of the project's aspirations and the measures to be implemented to reduce the vulnerability of communities to flooding and to adapt to the impacts of climate change in the Mono river basin;
- the identification by the participants of potential intervention areas and project beneficiaries;
- the institutional set-up necessary for the successful implementation of the project;
- the distribution of the budget between the different components, products and results of the project;
- a synthesis of the recommendations and remarks to be taken into account in the different sections of the concept note.
The meeting was a hybrid one and was attended by 34 people, 29 of whom attended face-to-face and 5 online. The participants were representatives of national and regional institutions such as the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), Global Water Partnership in West Africa (GWP-WA), the General Directorate of Water of Benin (Focal Point/ABM of Benin), the Directorate of Water Resources Management of Togo (Focal Point/ABM of Togo), the General Directorate of Environment and Climate of Benin (Focal Point/Adaptation Fund), the Directorate of Environment of Togo (Focal Point of the Adaptation Fund), the National Agency of Civil Protection (ANPC) of Benin and Togo, the Meteorological Agency of Benin and Togo, the Mono Basin Committee (Prefect of Couffo in Benin and Prefect of HAHO in Togo), the local authorities of Benin and Togo (Mayors of the Communes of Bassila and Ogou) and the Platform of Civil Society Organisations of the Mono Basin (POSC) Benin-Togo.
At the end of the workshop, all stakeholders have agreed on the objectives, expected results, components and activities of the Mono climate shield project. They have brought contributions to finalize the content of the project concept note for submission to the Adaptation Fund.