The rapid assessment will form the basis for a comprehensive WACDEP capacity building programme, based on the Framework for Water Security and Climate Resilient Development that was developed by the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), with support from GWP and CDKN (Climate & Development Knowledge Network). The Framework serves as a tool to help countries integrate water security and climate resilience into national development plans and programs, with a focus on prioritizing ‘‘no or low regrets’’ investments and financing strategies.

The rapid assessment will:

• identify priority needs for countries to enhance water security and climate resilient development.
• focus on capacity needs for building institutional capacity as well as identify the  learning needs of senior staff in the key targeted government ministries/departments and organizations.

The overall assessment will be conducted in two phases: a “rapid assessment” which will be conducted in April-May 2013, and a “detailed assessment” in May-July 2013.

The beneficiaries are government planners from ministries in charge of Economic Planning, Finance, Water, Agriculture, Energy and Environment. Other targets are GWP regional and national teams, and regional and national stakeholders such as Regional Economic Communities (RECs), River Basin Organizations (RBOs), development banks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), development partners, and academic institutions.

To date, the WACDEP capacity building programme has accomplished a number of activities to facilitate the running of the programme.  Between January-February 2013, the Team Leader (TL) and the Capacity Building Manager (CBM) were recruited, and in March the inception report was developed and National Training Coordinators (NTC) were appointed in the eight countries. The upcoming activities of the capacity building programmes, which will be managed in a space of two years (2013- 2014), will focus on the design of Learning Material, a Pan-African Training of Trainers Workshop, and the launch of the training itself in late October.

GWP, as the key implementing organization, is collaborating with AMCOW, CDKN, the United Nations Development Programme-Capacity Building Network (UNDP-Capnet), and NIRAS Natura AB, an international engineering and development consultancy.

Further information on the WACDEP Capacity Building Programme kindly contact:

Armand HOUANYE, WACDEP Capacity Building Manager, Email armurho@yahoo.fr

Refer to the WACDEP Website (www.gwp.org/wacdep) for further information on the WACDEP Programme.