This Knowledge Network Survey, conducted in March 2008, is part of the monitoring component of the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network with the main goal to get a better understanding of the functioning and performing of the network and its activities. The monitor and its results will be a useful instrument for all network members, and the Steering Committee in specific, to guide its direction and to decide on specific input and actions needed.
The NBCBN monitor performs four functions:
• as an instrument for network leadership
• as an instrument to monitor quality of network development
• as an instrument for insight into support, process, outcomes and impact
• as an instrument to feed the learning process in network development

It is the objective of the Survey to inform the network secretariat, the KNNB project management and the NBCBN Steering committee about the viability of the network at its current stage from the perspective of the network members. The survey is a feedback instrument from the members of the network about the way they perceive personal and network objectives, the realization of their goals through participating in the network, their network relationships, activities and outcomes, as well as their recommendation for the network.
From that point of view the survey reports about network member involvement, employer support, network secretariat support, personal goals, cooperation, coordination, knowledge exchange, scientific support, benefits and outcomes.
The survey report will be published very soon to present the results of the assessment of the NBCBN and its 6 Cluster communities, as perceived by a representative group of respondents from all 10 Nilotic countries.

NBCBN Regional Research Clusters Workshops in 2009

the period February–March 2009, the second face-to-face meeting between the Scientific Advisors and the research teams of the regional clusters from the Nile Basin Countries will be organised .Those 6 regional  events which will be organized with duration of 4 days have the following objectives:

• Evaluation of the present stage and clear measures and work plan for the finalisation of the scientific reports in time.
• Identification of the main tangible outputs and the ways to disseminate and implement the results. 
• Evaluation of the progress of local action and elaboration of work plan to finalise the action in due time.

One day seminar on the Cluster topic will be organised in the first day of the workshop. During this seminar a wider audience will be invited and call for oral presentations from resource persons will be initiated. The main objective is to update the cluster members knowledge on their research topics by having the chance to be introduced to different other research findings and topic state of art.

In October 2008 NBCBN-RE published the first volume of its scientific magazine. The main idea behind this Nile Water science & Engineering Magazine is to offer an international platform for members of NBCBN to disseminate their research output in field of river engineering to the scientific and public and private professionals and communities active in the Nile basin at local, regional and international level. It aims at raising awareness of the Nile Basin countries on the scientific and technical issues related to the development and management of water resources within the Nile basin. A special focus is on young researchers from the basin to enhance their research skills through publications.

The first volume is available at the following link http://magazine.nbcbn.com/

In the mean time, NBCBN is now preparing for publishing a special issue of this magazine focusing on the “water and Climate” topic.  This issue is planned to be published by March 2009 and to include the paper submitted and presented during the NBCBN climate change workshop organised last October.

Workshop on impact of climate change on the water resources system of the Nile basin

The Nile Basin Capacity Building Network NBCBN in partnership with the cooperation programme on Water and Climate, UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands, organized a two-days workshop (27th - 28th October, 2008) on “Impact of Climate Change on the Water Resources System of the Nile Basin” in City Stars Intercontinental Hotel, Cairo, Egypt, to launch the multidisciplinary research modality of the NBCBN. This modality focuses on studying the impacts of climate change on different aspects of water management in the Nile and defining adaptation strategies to cope with the most serious effects of climate change.

 The main objectives of the research project that were addressed during this workshop are:

1. Define the impact of climate change on the rainfall-run-off relations within the Nile Basin
2. Define the impacts of changes in run-off and stream flow on hydropower, floods, safety, and ecology and environment of the great lakes and wetlands of the Nile basin.
3. Define hotspots within the Nile Basin where climate change will have the most significant impact
4. Define adaptation strategies for the different hotspots.

The workshop output is presented as a collection of the individual group output which will be the starting point for formulating the overall research project proposal to study the impact of climate change on the water systems in the Nile Basin

Training of trainers’ workshop on adaptation to climate change

The NBCBN-RE and the Hydraulics Research Institute (HRI) in cooperation with the Cap-Net organised in October 2008 a training of trainers' course as a part of a collaborative programme between Cap-Net/UNDP and APFM/WMO to capacitate water professionals, capacity builders, local authorities and other stakeholders to adapt to changing climatic conditions. Coordination and content development were the responsibility of a team composed of NBCBN, UNESCO-IHE, WMO/APFM and Cap-Net.

The workshop was aiming to ensure that water managers and local authorities are able to apply sustainable water management principles and instruments to adapt to climate variability manifestations. The immediate objective is to train capacity builder’s manager and water professionals in IWRM as a tool for adaptation to climate change.
23 water professionals from 5 regional networks (WA-Net, NileIWRMnet, NBCBN, Awarenet and WaterNet) were participating in the course. The participants come from the following countries: Sudan, D.R. Congo, Tanzania, Egypt, Lebanon, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, Burundi, and Burkina Faso.

Research group: “Environmental aspects tools and DSS for EIA”

This group is one of two research groups under Environmental Aspects which is hosted by Makerere University the hosting institution of the network Uganda node. The group started its research activites  in June 2006. The group is coordinated by Mr. Muniina Kenneth, Makarere university, Kenneth.Muniina@mrcuganda.org, the group scientific advisor is Ir. Joop de Schutter, UNESCO-IHE and the group composition is as below:

• Eng. Mugambe Ronald, Uganda, mugambe@dwd.co.ug
• Dr. Nalubega Maimuna, Uganda, mnalubega@lycos.com
• Dr. Richard Kimwaga, Tanzania, rkimwaga2004@yahoo.co.uk
• Dr. Ahmed A. Mostafa, Egypt, a.amin@hri-egypt.org
• Dr. Oonge, Kenya, Oonge@uonbi.ac.ke
• Dr. Sigfried Musangwa, Rwanda, musangwasi@yahoo.fr
• Prof. Dr. Mohd Elmuntasir I. Ahmed, Sudan, ahmemoh@iit.edu

The research proposal of this group has a long term objective to enhance Sustainable Environmental Management with the following specific objectives:

• Identify and complete the environmental quality parameters list/indicators list from the previous phase 1.
• Identify and develop tools for evaluating environmental quality parameters
• develop knowledge and methods for nature conservation and biodiversity considerations in environmental impact assessments
• an approach to objective assessments of Environmental Impacts

The expected outcomes of the research are (i) to produce a methodology for Environmental Impact Assessment with application of latest updates of Information Technology in the area of EIA. (ii) To provide a methodology for Environmental Risk Assessment, as an aid to Environmental Decision Making, and (iii) an EIA DSS/Expert system for Use in Nile Basin Countries should be formed.
So far the main tasks achieved by the group are:

• Literature Review
• Review of EIA Models
• Parameter Identification/DSS Design