Kenya Hosts Regional Workshop on water Information Systems to Support Policy and Investment Decisions

The regional workshop on Water Information System brings together experts from the 5 East African Community (EAC) Partner States will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, 22^nd-24^th June, 2022.

The workshop forms part of the stakeholder engagement process that seeks to deliver Lake Victoria Basin Water Information System (LVB-WIS). It is integral to the Lake Victoria Basin Integrated Water Resources Management Programme (LVB-IWRMP) coordinated by Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) in the EAC Partner States.  

Funded by the Federal Germany Government and European Union, the LVB-IWRMP seeks to increase availability and quality of water in Lake Victoria Basin through country-specific High Priority Investments (HPIs), and the LVB-WIS among other deliverables.

Upon completion, the LVB-WIS will support policy and investment decision-making for the long-term sustainable development of the Lake Victoria Basin. As such, the process to its design is consultative and consensual for effective application by multiple users at regional and national level.

Effective usability of the system is expected to contribute towards evidence-based awareness raising, problem analysis and adopting data-informed policies and programmes. The system aligns with LVBC’s aspiration of becoming an economic growth zone for the East African Community and the Center of Excellence in Integrated Water Resource Management.

According to the LVB-IWRM’s Regional project Coordinator, Mr. Arsene Mukubwa, the regional workshop will provide an opportunity for individual Partner States to consolidate key findings from the initial consultations. The consolidated findings will be used to prepare the functional design and refined specifications of the LVB-WIS.  

The modeling needs and tools required to be linked to the LVB-WIS, data sharing mechanisms and operational and maintenance considerations of the LVB-WIS within Partner States will also be discussed.

Participants to the workshop will include water resources modeling and data handling experts, National LVBC Focal Point Person(s), relevant delegates from the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Secretariat, the KfW – Nairobi representative and the LVBC Secretariat.

The regional workshop targets to achieve an agreed approach to the development of the LVB-WIS functional and technical specifications, agreed modeling needs and modelling tools to link to the LVB-WIS framework, agreed datasets and sources for use in the development of the LVB-WIS, agreed key considerations for operation and maintenance of the LVB-WIS.