Fisheries governance, management and marginalisation in developing countries: Insights from Botswana

 By Ketlhatlogile Mosepele  and Oluwatoyin Dare Kolawole

Abstract

Globally, fish is a key source of food and nutrition security for all marginalized riparian communities. This is particularly so for Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Indeed, debates about power relations on fisheries governance underscore issues bordering on the quality of life and livelihood opportunities for marginalized, riparian communities. The fundamental problems impeding the ability of fisheries resources in a developing country like Botswana to contribute to food and nutrition security are governance issues and poorly-thought out management approaches. This study reviewed relevant literature and key informant interviews to elicit secondary and primary data on the management of the fisheries sector. Despite its middle income status, Botswana is still faced with food and nutrition insecurity. These can be ameliorated by increased supply of fish, especially to marginalised riparian communities. However, the fisheries sector is maligned in terms of access to human and financial resources. Governance of the sector is also misaligned between food production needs and conservation imperatives. Consequently, poor physical infrastructure (due to low government support and investment) has limited the optimal performance of the sector in enhancing people’ livelihoods. Key recommendations from this study include: (i) realigning fisheries legislation and governance, (ii) paradigm shift in management, (iii) increase funding for research and marketing, (iv) infrastructural development, (v) cultural shift in fish valuation, and (vi) participatory inclusion in decision-making. Ultimately, marginalisation can be reduced through devolution of power from the centre to the margins. This would contribute towards alleviating food and nutrition insecurity in the developing world.

 Continue reading: https://www.cogentoa.com/article/10.1080/23311932.2017.1338637

World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law

Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena.

Read more: http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2017

Governance of ecosystem services

The study looks at governance of ecosystem services describing the existing legal and institutional frameworks, including the specific legal and policy instruments used to directly or indirectly govern the provision of ecosystem services. Link to full article available here.

OKACOM at Stockholm Water Week's Water Governance Session

OKACOM Executive Secretary Dr Eben Chonguiça at seminar

A joint Twin2Go/Global Water System Project (GWSP), Global Water Partnership (GWP) and UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Seminar at the World Water Week in Stockholm on August 25th raised adaptive water governance issues. OKACOM Executive Secretary Dr Eben Chonguiça participated in the seminar, titled Governing Water Wisely: Adaptive Approaches to Water Resources Management.

The group discussed how a water governance system should be designed to be able to cope with complexity and uncertainty in the context of climate change, how approaches can be transferable across different basins and governance levels, and how transition towards adaptive water governance can be included in existing policy processes. Among others challenges to adaptive water governance, the seminar noted the complexity of achieving a paradigm shift on institutional frameworks for transboundary resources management that can effectively and efficiently operate beyond barriers of national sovereignty with an appropriate lateral thinking modus operandi..

The Twin2Go project has analysed governance systems in 25 river basins around the world. Together with regional experts and stakeholders, Twin2Go has ranked them with regard to governance and performance, and has identified best practices and lessons learnt for increasing adaptability.

Request for Proposals: Development of Environmental Monitoring Content for OKACOM Website

RFP for acquisition and formatting of content related to environmental monitoring in the Cubango - Okavango River Basin for OKACOM's website.

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission’s Secretariat is developing a new, interactive website that will be updated more frequently, and with less human labour, using the Plone CMS. The site will bring together OKACOM’s own content with relevant materials from external sources. The site design includes pages for regularly updated monitoring reports of environmental conditions in the river basin, including hydrological data related to water discharge and levels, flood extent, meteorological data, vegetation changes and fires. The intention is that the site’s users will have direct access to updated and integrated data from the three riparian countries of Angola, Botswana and Namibia.

OKACOM would also like to take advantage of new technologies that are continuously making it possible to visualize this type of data in ways that make it more accessible to its broad stakeholder group.

A technical consultant to make arrangements for acquisition and formatting of content for this portion of the site is needed. Download the pdf.

Request for Proposals: Compilation of Stakeholder Points for Access Information for OKACOM

RFP for production of a report that identifies and describes points of access to OKACOM's stakeholders.

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM)has identified a need for the inclusion and integration of the various stakeholders of the Okavango River Basin in the governance and decision making associated with the management of this important transboundary river basin. To this end, the OKACOM Secretariat commissioned a study to identify the stakeholders in the ORB and develop a strategy to integrate their inputs in the governance structures of the ORB itself. The primary objective of this activity was to develop a demand-driven and flexible strategy for the Secretariat, on behalf of OKACOM, to implement actions that would ensure effective stakeholder integration across the basin. OKACOM now wishes to contract a consultant to identify strategic points of access to these stakeholders. Download the pdf.

OKACOM 17th Annual Meeting

Flags of the three riparian countries at the OKACOM Secretariat offices in Maun, Botswana

The Secretariat of the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) raised the flags of the three countries at its location next to the Botswana Department of Environmental Affairs offices in Maun, Botswana this month. OKACOM, which advises the governments of Angola, Botswana and Namibia about conservation and management of the Cubango - Okavango River Basin, is in the process of completing a series of national consultations that will feed into a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the river basin. The SAP will be discussed at OKACOM's upcoming annual meeting in Swakopmund, Namibia the week of May 23rd, 2011.

International Waters: Review of Legal and Institutional Frameworks

This article provides legal and institutional frameworks that apply to twenty-eight (28) international water bodies that were identified as part of the United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNDP-GEF) 'Good Practices and Portfolio Learning in GEF Transboundary Freshwater and Marine Legal and Institutional Frameworks' project. Following the introduction, part II of this report identifies and explains the eighteen criteria that are used to describe the legal and institutional frameworks of each of the water bodies discussed in this report. Part III of this report provides a detailed discussion of the legal and institutional frameworks for each water body identified, organized by global region.

Available at: http://zunia.org/uploads/media/knowledge/IW_Review_of_Legal_Instl_Frameworks_Project_Report1303633425.pdf

RFP for Development of OKACOM Access to Information Policy

The Secretariat of the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) is seeking assistance in developing a policy to guide its members and staff in facilitating access to the information generated and managed by the Commission. The Terms of Reference can be found here. Deadline for submission of proposals is 5 November 2010.

Southern Africa Water Wire journalists training

Dr Eben Chonguica, Executive Secretary, OKACOM, explains Okavango governance issues to journalists

Eighteen journalists from the SADC region are in Maun this week to learn about water resource management issues. The training coincides with SADC's Multi-Stakeholder Water Dialogue meeting on October 12th and 13th, and has included a briefing and field trip focused on the 2010 Okavango floods organized by OKACOM's Secretariat. The briefing included contributions from Birdlife Botswana, the Okavango Research Institute, Botswana departments of Agriculture and Water Affairs and Ministry of Health, the Basin Wide Forum, and Kalahari Conservation Society. The event is part of a GTZ funded SADC programme implemented by the IPS Inter Press Service Africa, the Southern Africa Water Wire. A special issue of Terraviva magazine will record the experiences of the trainee journalists.

New USAID programme supporting OKACOM

SAREP Inception Workshop at GICC, Gaborone

An inception workshop for USAID’s Southern Africa Regional Environmental Programme (SAREP) Project began a new programme of support to the Permanent Okavango River Basin Commission (OKACOM) on October 7th and 8th 2010 in Gaborone, Botswana.

The SAREP Programme is a second phase of work begun by USAID’s Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) Programme that, among other activities, supported OKACOM’s Interim Secretariat between 2004 and 2008. Implemented by Chemonics International with its partners — Bergstan (Pty), Ecosurv (Pty) Ltd., Social Impact Assessment and Policy Analysis Corporation (Pty) Ltd. (SIAPAC), and the University of Florida’s Department of Geography -- SAREP will work with OKACOM and regional counterparts to improve trans-boundary natural resource management in the Okavango River Basin.

Amongst SAREP’s objectives are to:

• Protect Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Activities will have biodiversity conservation as an explicit objective, address threats to biodiversity in biologically significant areas and have associated indicators for biodiversity conservation.
• Build Capacity for Water Governance: Strengthen cooperation and capacity of regional institutions to implement the SADC, Protocol and to promote public participation in integrated water resource development and management while protecting ecosystem health and sustainability
• Support Basin-level Plans and Priorities: Work with OKACOM and its related structures to enable key planned activities to be implemented, where possible.
• Integrate Transboundary Infrastructure and Land Use Planning: Improve design, implementation, operation and sustainable maintenance of water supply and sanitation services (WSS).

SAREP will operate from a headquarters office in Gaborone and a local office in Maun, Botswana.
For more information contact: Mr Steve Johnson, sjohnson@sarep.co.bw or Geof Khwarae, gkhwarae@sarep.co.bw.

The Development Support Monitor (DSM) 2010

The Development Support Monitor (DSM) is an independent monitoring report which catalogues and tracks development commitments made by African governments and their development partners for Africa’s development from an African perspective. DSM 2010, the third edition of this publication, pays special attention to Africa’s progress towards attaining the MDGs and incorporates grassroots experiences and perspectives garnered through African Monitor’s programmatic activities. Avaiable on Zunia.

RFP for OKACOM Mid-Term Evaluation

Request for Proposals

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission was established in September 15, 1994 by the Governments of Angola, Botswana and Namibia. The objective of the Commission is to act as the technical advisor to the Contracting Parties on matters relating to the conservation, development and utilization of water resources of common interest in the Okavango River basin. This entails promoting coordinated and sustainable water resources management of the basin, while addressing the legitimate social and economic needs of riparian States.

To ensure effective fulfillment of its functions, OKACOM is driven by an internal organizational structure consisting of:

i. The Commission – the principal organ of OKACOM, responsible for defining and guiding the development policy and general supervision of the activities of OKACOM.

ii. The Okavango Basin Steering Committee (OBSC) – is the technical advisory body to the Commission. It provides technical leadership to permanent or temporary subsidiary committees known as task forces that are established according to the nature and specificity of the matter.

iii. The Secretariat – responsible for providing administrative, financial and general secretariat services to OKACOM.

Aimed at strengthening the Secretariat’s delivery capacity within the realms of its mandate, a Three Year Plan for the Consolidation and Operation of the Secretariat was initiated in 2007.

In order to assist the OKACOM and its Secretariat towards improved institutional and organizational performance, a midterm review of the Secretariat is planned for the current year. On the basis of the followingTerms of Reference, interested firms or consulting companies are requested to submit their expression of interest together with a technical and financial proposal.

Submissions should be made to the OKACOM Secretariat no later than September 20^th 2010 to the following address:

Att: Dr. Ebenizário Chonguiça (Executive Secretary)

Email address: ebenc@okacom.org or

OKACOM Secretariat, P O Box 35, Maun, Botswana, Tel: +267 680 0023, Fax: +267 680 0024.

___________________________

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Agreement

Terms of Reference for the Mid-Term Review of the Three Year Plan for the Consolidation and Operation of the OKACOM Secretariat

1. Background

The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission was established in September 15, 1994 by the Governments of Angola, Botswana and Namibia. The objective of the Commission is to act as the technical advisor to the Contracting Parties on matters relating to the conservation, development and utilization of water resources of common interest in the Okavango River basin. This entails promoting coordinated and sustainable water resources management of the basin, while addressing the legitimate social and economic needs of riparian States.

The Commission’s mandate emerges from the shared vision of the three States that envisages anticipating and reducing unintended, unacceptable and often unnecessary impacts to the resources of the Okavango basin system. The vision is supported by operational principles of:

· Equitable allocation

· Sustainable utilization

· Sound environmental management and

· Sharing of benefits

The Commission’s mandate requires it to investigate the pre-requisites and set up conditions to:

· Determine the long term safe yield of water available from the river;

· Estimate reasonable demand scenarios from consumers

· Prepare criteria for conservation, equitable allocation and sustainable utilization of water

· Undertake investigations related to water infrastructure

· Formulate recommended pollution prevention measures

· Develop measures for the alleviation of short term difficulties, such as temporary droughts and floods

· Generate visible impacts on poverty alleviation for the riparian communities, emanating from applied basin resources management options

To ensure effective fulfillment of its functions, OKACOM is driven by an internal organizational structure consisting of:

i. The Commission – the principal organ of OKACOM, responsible for defining and guiding the development policy and general supervision of the activities of OKACOM.

ii. The Okavango Basin Steering Committee (OBSC) – is the technical advisory body to the Commission. It provides technical leadership to permanent or temporary subsidiary committees known as task forces that are established according to the nature and specificity of the matter.

iii. The Secretariat – responsible for providing administrative, financial and general secretariat services to OKACOM.

2. Context and rationale for the Mid-Term Review

Recognizing the need to strengthen its organizational and institutional framework, OKACOM developed and approved its organizational structure in April 2007. Aimed at supporting the institutional strengthening of OKACOM, an agreement to support the consolidation and operations of OKACOM Secretariat was signed between Sida and OKACOM. This institutional support process is guided by the three year plan for the period 2007-2010 to consolidate the Secretariat’s operations. The three year programme framework in terms of its development objectives, immediate objectives and expected results are defined as follows:

Development objectives: OKACOM and member countries supported in integrated management of the Okavango River Basin through the implementation of the 1994 Agreement.

Immediate objectives

The immediate objectives, expressed as desired outcomes, are:

1) OKACOM decisions are well informed, based on a well prepared analysis of alternatives and relative costs and benefits and are implemented in a timely and effective manner.

2) Information relevant to the sustainable, equitable and effective management of the Okavango River Basin is defined, all relevant actors are aware of the sources and these sources continue to match the present and future needs (information strategy).

3) Participation of stakeholders in the integrated governance of the Okavango River Basin increased by enhancing communication and by improving the capacity of OKACOM and its stakeholders to promote communication and participation in the management of the ORB.

Further details of the three year plan in terms of outputs, activities and overall strategy are provided in the programme document (annex 1).

As OKACOM progresses with its institutional strengthening as a river basin organization, it is imperative to have the process guided by regular evaluations of organizational performance, using criteria that include assessment of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. The outcomes of such regular evaluations should be used to provide feedback about the required recalibration of institutional structures and functions for improved organizational performance in the delivery of OKACOM mandate. Regular evaluations of organizational performance, therefore, are an integral part of the organizational culture that OKACOM intends to develop and consolidate as a corporate institution of the 21^st century.

3. Purpose and objectives of the Mid-Term Review

The purpose of the mid-term review is to provide and objective assessment of progress with the implementation of the three year plan for the consolidation and operations of the Secretariat in relation to its defined development objectives, immediate objectives and expected outputs as defined in the programme document. The review process should be framed under the terms of the agreement between Sweden and OKACOM on support to the OKACOM Secretariat (2007-2010). The review should take into consideration new institutional development and operations pathways brought about by approval of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and Strategic Action Plan (SAP).

4. Issues to be addressed

The key issues to be covered with the midterm review should include:

· Compliance with the objectives and targets set out in the agreed programme document on the implementation of the three year plan to assess how effectively and efficiently resources are used and outputs delivered within planned frames and organizational set up. The monitoring process should be done at:

• Output and activity levels
• Financial performance, internal working procedures and operational documents
• Programme planning and management procedures
• Reporting and Outcome.

· Assessment of the three year plan in terms of its relevance, impacts and sustainability. Propose recommendations for changes in the targets/outcomes for the programme. This assessment process should include:

• Assessment of perceptions within the OKACOM constituency with respect to the relevance, impacts and sustainability of the three year plan so far;
• Capturing and documenting lessons learnt to improve relevance, impact and sustainability of the three year plan.

· Effectiveness of the existing enabling environment for the functionality of the Secretariat in relation to other OKACOM organs and basin constituency, including:

• Secretariat office infrastructure
• Human resources (e.g. capacity; performance; skills mix)
• Administrative and financial management systems
• Communication and information systems
• Linkages with other OKACOM internal organs
• Linkages with basin programmes/projects and constituency/stakeholders
• Linkages with national sector institutions
• Linkages with regional/international institutions (SADC; ANBO; INBO; AMCOW)
• International Cooperating Partners
• Funding mechanisms (e.g. national contributions; ICP; financial sustainability).

· Assessment of and present recommendations on the key findings.

5. Tasks to be performed

The key tasks to be performed include:

• Assessment of existing and planned products in relation to defined targets, covering both the start-up and implementation phases while providing an indication of observed impacts over the period under review
• Identification of opportunities for improving performance in the implementation of the plan and advance recommendations to guide required redirection and adjustments as might be imposed by observed conditions on the ground
• Evaluation of organizational performance of the OKACOM Secretariat over the period while assessing functional interactions of the internal organs of OKACOM as defined by the organizational structure
• Assessment of programmatic linkages with critical projects, stakeholders at a basin scale, national and regional levels should, including involvement with key International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) within the water sector and Sida in particular
• Assessment of the adequacy of current OKACOM institutional and organizational infrastructural capacity to support new programmatic challenges framed by the SAP.
• These tasks will be performed through the following activities.

5.1 Review of background information

The mid-term review should start with the review of relevant background documentation related to OKACOM institutional development and programme implementation. Some of the key documents to be considered include but are not necessarily limited to:

• Annual work plans and budgets for the programme period under review
• Progress reports (annual and semi-annual) narrative and financial reports
• The three year plan for the consolidation and operation of the OKACOM Secretariat
• Guidelines and procedures for the establishment of the OKACOM Secretariat
• OKACOM Agreement
• Organizational Structure for the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission
• Agreement regarding the hosting of OKACOM Secretariat
• Agreement between Sweden and OKACOM on support to the OKACOM Secretariat
• OKACOM Governance Documents (Policy and Operations Manual; Finance and Administrative Manual; Procurement Manual)
• Any other relevant documents as deemed necessary

5.2 Interviewing key stakeholders

The mid-term review should have a consultative process across critical involved parties. In this respect critical stakeholders across the three riparian states should be interviewed. In addition to Commissioners, OBSC members, staff of the Secretariat and project managers, this should include government agencies, Sida, civil society organizations, NGOs, research institutions and private sector.

Regional bodies such as SADC, GWP and ICPs supporting the water sector in SADC region should also be part of the interview list including existing similar river basin organizations (e.g. ORASECOM, LIMCOM, ZAMCOM). Other relevant stakeholder may also be included as deemed necessary.

5.3 Analysis and reporting

The review team will compile their findings, analyze them and produce a preliminary report (in English and Portuguese) in ten copies to be submitted to OKACOM Secretariat to be sent to OBSC and Sida for input and comments. The consultants will subsequently incorporate the inputs and comments provided and compile a draft final report for submission to OKACOM and Sida. The final report incorporating the final comments shall be approved by Sida and OKACOM and adopted by OKACOM.

6. Outputs

6.1 The outputs of the midterm review exercise will include:

· Preliminary report

· Draft final report

· Final report.

Preliminary and draft final reports will be submitted to the Secretariat in Microsoft Word format and the final report will be submitted in both hard copy and electronic formats, with ten hard copies (English and Portuguese) delivered to the Secretariat.

6.2. The report structure should consider the following components:

· Introduction and purpose of the mid-term review

· Review approach

· Finding of the review

· Assessment of progress toward three year plan goals, objectives and outputs

· Financial performance

· Relevance, impact and sustainability of the three year plan (challenges and opportunities)

· Assessment of enabling environment (implementation arrangements; national regional)

· Conclusions and recommendations.

The consultants shall, upon signature of the contract, develop and submit for approval the timeline and milestones for completion of the work including a specification of number of weeks for visits and interviews and timing for report compilation. The final report should be delivered three months after the signing of a contract.