Africa: Transboundary basin : The volta: creation of a basin authority 2005 - 2006

The decision-makers of the 6 countries of the Volta Basin (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali and Togo) have shown their determination and strong political will to quickly go forward while the Volta has not yet a Basin Authority.

A Volta Basin Technical Committee (VBTC) was set up in July 2004 and held its second meeting, from 20 to 24 June 2005. This intergovernmental consultation body has been mandated for creating the necessary conditions for creating a Volta Transboundary River Basin Organisation for Integrated Water Resources Management, including ecosystems and other related resources.

French bilateral Co-operation supported the International Office for Water to back up the VBTC activities in two steps:

•  Support to the 2nd meeting of the VBTC’s Technical Committee in close co-operation with the Co-ordination Unit for Water Resources (CUWR) of the Economic Commission of Western African States (ECOWAS), with experts from each member country of the basin, and from the IWRM group of the European Initiative.

•  Technical assistance to the VBTC and member countries with the preparation of an effective implementation of the Basin Authority: statutes / organisation chart / identification of human and financial resources / financial mechanisms / inter-country co-ordination systems / planning processes.

These activities took into account the national strategies for water resources management of the six Member States. They also integrated the parallel programmes developed by the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the French Fund for Global Environment and other donors in order to quickly define a suited action plan.