Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing in:  Water Resources & Environmental Management,

1^st-3^rd December 2009 Kigali, Rwanda 

NBCBN-SEC organized in collaboration with the Water Resources and Environmental Management (WREM) Project of UNESCO-IHE hosted by the National University of Rwanda (NUR) a regional workshop on “Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing in: Water Resources & Environmental Management” for the three countries: Rwanda, Burundi and D.R. Congo in the period from 1-3 December 2009, Kigali, Rwanda. The main idea of this workshop was to assist the researchers and professionals from those countries to share their knowledge and to develop collaborative regional training and research activities.

For NBCBN, the main objective of this joint regional workshop is to have a common platform for the three countries to discuss their common research interests, and to initiate ideas for Sub-regional capacity building and cooperation activities. Another important objective is to share and exchange knowledge and experiences with the WREM alumni group. For WREM the main idea of co-organizing this workshop is to mark the conclusion of a 4 years project to develop and implement an MSc course in Water Resources and Environmental Management at the National University of Rwanda. The workshop was a discussion platform for all alumni graduated through this MSc program. The main workshop topics were:

• Small hydropower Development
• Flood, erosion and sedimentation
• Environmental aspects of Water Related Projects

These topics were selected based on the main interest of the network nodes members in these countries and being the main important and common problems that needs more focus and support.

As a conclusion, the workshop and its outcomes were highly appreciated by the participants. The idea to gather these three countries and to initiate the idea of the sub-regional cooperation for the common problems was very successful.

It was recognized that the participants have the wellness for this regional cooperation in order to exchange and gain more information to build their capacities, and to contributes in solving the problems facing their countries.

Training Workshop on
“Integrated Flood Management for the Nile Basin Countries”
23-27 November Nairobi, Kenya

Recognizing the importance of IFM and the urgent need to be applied in all the Nile Basin countries, WMO in collaboration with NBCBN had organized a training Workhsop on Integrated flood management (IFM) for the Nile Basin Countries in the period from 23 to 27th November 2009 Nairobi, Kenya. The first two days of the workshop aimed to disseminate the ideas and concepts of IFM, while the last three days of the workshop were dedicated for training of trainers’ sessions on IFM. The workshop was held in IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) Kenya, where the ten Nile Basin Countries participated in this training workshop.

The main workshop objective was to share, exchange and disseminates the ideas, experiences and concepts of IFM and to train the participants on the application of IFM in order to ably IFM in their home countries. Another objective was to equip participants with knowledge about available tools and methodologies to improve their flood management practices in their home institution.