1. Project Assistant
  2. Consulting Services to provide technical support and facilitate private sector engagement within the Orange-Senqu River Basin
  3. Executive Secretary: Orange Senqu River Commission
  4. TERMS OF REFERENCE For The Appointment of a Service Provider for The Review of The Estuarine Management Plan (EMP) For The Orange – Senqu River Mouth Estuary
  5. PROCUREMENT, SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF EQUIPMENT FOR /AI- /AIS NATIONAL PARK AND DREIHUK PROSOPIS HARVESTING SITES, IN NAMIBIA
  6. Consultancy services to facilitate the marketing and sales of prosopis products for /ai-/ais, dreihuk, gibeon and mariental pilot sites
  7. Procurement for supply, installation, training and commissioning of water quality monitoring and laboratory equipment for Orasecom member state of Lesotho
  8. Consulting Services – Water Information System (WIS)
  9. Support to the Orange River Mouth rehabilitation project
  10. Namibia prepares for combating Prosopis
  11. ORASECOM is hiring consultants
  12. 4th SADC Groundwater Conference 10-12 November 2021
  13. Botswana Desalination Plant Project Launched
  14. 39th IAHR World Congress
  15. Water is a matter of life and death – Opinion piece
  16. Webinar: Transboundary Water Management under conditions of Climate and Political Uncertainty: Middle Eastern and South African Perspectives
  17. World Water Week Groundwater Webinar
  18. Interview with Lenka Thamae, Executive Secretary of ORASECOM on the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer scheme
  19. Webinar Series: Groundwater – Base Rock of Resilience
  20. Climate Resilient Water Resources Investment Strategy & Plan & Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer (L-BWT) Project
  21. GIZ
  22. Joint Water Resources Quality Survey (JBS)
  23. FGEF Support
  24. Water Information System (WIS)
  25. Joint Irrigation Authority (JIA)
  26. Water Information System (WIS)
  27. Adequate Rainfall Predicted for SADC October-December Season
  28. Orange-Senqu Basin Wide Groundwater Survey
  29. Fundraising for the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer Project
  30. Orange-Senqu River Awareness Kit
  31. International Conference on FRESH WATER GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 5th – 7th November, 2012, Champagne Sports Resort, Central Drakensburg (KwaZulu-Natal), South Africa
  32. 4th Orange-Senqu River Basin Symposium, 6th – 7th June 2012, Campus of the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
  33. The African Transboundary River Basin Support Programme came to an end
  34. Towards Transboundary Evironmental Assessment Guidelines for the Orange-Senqu River Basin
  35. ORASECOM initiates work on the Orange-Senqu River Learning Box
  36. The ORASECOM Secretariat takes delivery of a three dimensional map of the basin
  37. ORASECOM publishes its “State of the Orange-Senqu River System” Report
  38. ORASECOM initiates work on the Orange-Senqu River Learning Box
  39. Training on Aquatic Ecosystem Health Monitoring
  40. The Urban Pollution Workshop at Mohale Dam
  41. Phase 2 of an IWRM Plan Development Project came to an end
  42. ORASECOM opens the Secretariat offices
  43. ORASECOM is visited by the Volta Basin Authority
  44. Training on Water Resources Yield Simulation Models
  45. ORASECOM at the 3rd Africa Water Week in Addis Ababa
  46. ORASECOM comes of age at 10!
  47. ORASECOM participates in the 13th International RiverSymposium
  48. ORASECOM works with the Benguela Current Commission
  49. Environmental Flows Requirements Site selection and survey for Caledon, Kraai, South Africa & Lesotho
  50. First Delphi Workshop, June 2010, North West, South Africa
  51. ORASECOM Prepares for the Joint Basin Survey – 1
  52. Workshop on Stakeholder Participation – Maseru, Lesotho
  53. Visit of the Nile Equatorial Subsidiary Action Plan group
  54. Visit to Lesotho Flow Gauging Stations

EU - European Union supported project

Objective of the project

The overall objective of the EU project derives directly from the vision of the Revised SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses, and is specified as follows;To reduce poverty and food insecurity through improved management and environmental protection in the Orange – Senqu River basin.

The intention of the project is to contribute to this objective by delivering on the following purpose;

To support institutional strengthening and to build the capacity of institutions for the implementation of priority projects and development of water conservation and environmental strategies and policies in the Orange-Senqu River basin.

Objectives

The Overall purpose of this project is defined as follows;

 To reduce poverty and food insecurity through improved management and environmental protection in the Orange – Senqu River basin.

While it is understood that the project only contributes to this objective, the way the project delivers its activities should not compromise this intention, but should maximise opportunities to make a significant contribution to this goal. This is particularly important given the historical context and original intentions behind the establishment of ORASECOM. The context of the overall objective this therefore discussed briefly here.

The Basin States differ widely in their ability to convert water from the Orange-Senqu system into GDP and jobs. Strategies to address poverty and food insecurity in the basin through water use are therefore likely to differ between the Member States. In Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia the population of the Basin is largely rural and poor, while in South Africa (the dominant water user in the basin) water use also supports the urban, industrial and mining heartland of the nation. There are considerable irrigation demands the middle and lower reaches of the river from both Namibia and South Africa, which make a significant contribution to the economy of that part of the Basin. Moreover, the countries have different social needs that sit high on their national developmental agenda, for example South Africa’s need to address the inequities left by the apartheid system plays an important role in the way water is managed in that country. There is consequently no standardized approach to using water to promote growth and development, which must underlie the implementation of IWRM principles in the Basin.

The context within which ORASECOM will function may therefore be influenced by different approaches to national development and poverty reduction strategies – as well as those strategies espoused by SADC. Importantly also, while there may be some regional sharing of the benefits from the economic use of water in South Africa through customs union arrangements, SADC structures do not yet allow for completely free trade and movement, or to apply public trust principles to water resources management across the whole basin. This current reality, to some extent, defines the role that ORASECOM could play in the basin in the short term.

Beyond this, while water can and should play an important role in addressing poverty and food insecurity, it is not the only factor which influences this process. Regional stability and peace, which is also one of SADC’s goals, is vital. The Basin States ability to deliver services, and to be seen to be delivering these services, is critical to achieving this political and social stability. Ultimately, therefore, reduced poverty and food insecurity must be delivered by the governments of the Member States, and not by ORASECOM. Provisions in the Agreement that restrict ORASECOM to an advisory and recommending role are therefore also important within the southern African developmental context.

 

Purpose

The project has been designed to deliver on the following purpose;
To support institutional strengthening and to build the capacity of institutions for the implementation of priority projects and development of water conservation and environmental strategies and policies in the Orange-Senqu River basin.

The focus on institutional strengthening and building the capacity of institutions for implementation raises three critical questions for this project.

  • Firstly, “What institutions are we working with?”,
  • Secondly “Does ORASECOM have the mandate for implementation?”, and
  • Lastly, “What will a strong ORASECOM look like?