Lake Victoria Basin Commission held a series of engagements with different Development Partners during the 2023 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 28th Conference of Parties (CoP28) in Dubai.
Led by Executive secretary Dr Masinde Bwire, the Commission’s delegation met representatives of the World Bank, African Development Bank, United Nations Environment Programme, German Cooperation among others.
Executive Secretary Dr Masinde Bwire at the panel
Dr Bwire led the team in holding bilateral talks with these Development Partners on upscaling existing or initiating new projects within Lake Victoria Basin. During a special meeting with World Bank’s Director for Regional Integration for Sub–Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa Ms Boutheina Guermazi, the LVBC team led by the Deputy Executive Secretary Eng Coletha Ruhamya appraised the bank on the numerous initiatives that are of interest to the Bank within the Lake Victoria Basin.
LVBC team pose for a photo with World Bank’s Director for Regional Integration for Sub–Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa Ms Boutheina Guermazi
These included the envisaged Lake Victoria Inter-modal Maritime Transport Project; the Lake Victoria Basin Lake-Wide Inclusive Integrated Environmental Sanitation (LVB-LWIES) Program and the proposed programmatic Climate Resilience Strengthening.
On her part, Ms Guermazi emphasized the Bank’s desire and vision for an integrated, structured and programmatic approach in Lake Victoria Basin that could serve as the World Bank’s blueprint for other regional projects in the World.
The director agreed to follow-up on the initiatives and committed to subsequently convene a meeting with her colleagues with a view to having them coordinated and structured under a broader regional programmatic approach for LVB.
LVBC team engaging a representative of UNEP
The team also met with representatives the Adaptation Unit of the United Nations Enviromental Programme (UNEP) to discuss the modalities of upscaling of the project on Adapting to Climate Change in Lake Victoria Basin (ACC-LVB). This was a regional adaptation project funded by the Adaptation Fund that was coordinated by LVBC and was implemented in five partner states which included the republic of Kenya, Republic of Burundi, Republic of Rwanda, Republic of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Deputy Executive Secretary Eng Colletha Ruhamya making her submission
Apart from the sideline meetings, Dr Bwire was also among the panelists in the session titled “challenges and opportunities on River and Inland water ways transport development in Africa” while Eng Ruhamya made her submission at a joint Kenya- EAC side event on “domestication of climate actions for transboundary ecosystem in building resilience and livelihood support systems”.
Ends.
