The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC, created in 2003) is a subsidiary institution of the EAC, mandated to achieve sustainable and equitable use of the Basin’s water resources through coordinated water resource management and development. However, the institutional framework for management of transboundary water resources in the Lake Victoria Basin and in the EAC is insufficient to effectively implement the existing regulations and to develop further necessary management instruments (core problem). The technical cooperation project aims to improve the framework conditions for an integrated management of integrated management of transboundary water resources in the LVB and the EAC, as water resources security is a prerequisite for economic development in the region and thus for regional economic integration.
Through a team of national and international experts, GIZ is supporting the LVBC and the EAC Secretariat to improve institutional framework conditions and capacities of the responsible institutions for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the EAC. Enhanced capacities in IWRM strategy processes at the EAC shall contribute to an improvement of the institutional framework for regional and transboundary IWRM. Improved regional framework guidelines (e.g. EAC water policy and strategy, standard effluent discharge guidelines for wastewater) shall foster cooperation between the Partner States. Improved skills of the technical officers involved in implementation of IWRM programme (IWRM unit of the LVBC) shall improve quality of data management and reporting as well as communication of the LVBC or its organs with the responsible ministries of the Partner States and other key actors, including the private sector.