Southern

Background: The Orange-Senqu River Basin originates in the highlands of Lesotho and runs for over 2300 km to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia/South Africa. The river system is one of the largest river basins in Africa with a total catchment area of about 1.0 million km2 and encompasses all of the Lesotho, a significant portion of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The basin is of major economic importance to South Africa contributing 26% to South Africa’s GDP.

Project History and Background
The Government of Swaziland, Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, Department of Water Affairs intends to assess the feasibility for the construction of a multipurpose dam, whose main objective is to store water in order to provide potable water to the two growing cities of Mbabane and Manzini. In the meantime, the stored water could also be used for irrigation and for improving the output of runoff the river hydropower plants further downstream.

Background: The development agenda of the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) is articulated in the National Vision 2030 and the Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP - 2017-2021) which prioritize water and sanitation among the key sectors for economic growth. Accordingly, Government is implementing the National Urban and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program as a road map to improve access to sustainable water supply and sanitation services for Urban, Peri-urban and Rural dwellers in Zambia, and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

May 2011 – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) received a € 1.7 million grant to undertake a study to improve knowledge on navigable waterways of the Shire-Zambezi for their reopening. This joint action between Malawi and Mozambique will improve information exchange and promote joint project planning and investment. The reopening of the waterways could increase the volume of transport of goods, trade and the exchange of services.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

August 2012 – The Government of Zambia received a € 950,000 grant to develop, test, and adopt updated guidelines to program, design, finance, build and monitor multi-purpose small dams. Resources mobilisation activities are also an important part of the project to ensure that the dams be scaled-up. The project is expected help rural communities build resilience to climate variability through improved water storage capacity. The water is expected to increase water security for fisheries, irrigation, domestic use, and cattle.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

August 2009 - The Municipality of Chitungwiza received a €2 million grant to finance the rehabilitation of the municipal water supply and sanitation systems and build institutional and community capacity for improved water and sanitation services to reduce the incidence of cholera. This will help stabilise the deterioration in the provision of water and sanitation services in the Municipality of Chitungwiza, and enhance institutional capacity for efficient and sustainable operation and management of the water supply and sanitation services for the future onward.

Background: Malawi is one of the countries with the highest urbanisation rates. With a population of about 662,000 (2008), the city of Blantyre is the largest in Malawi. Between 1998 and 2008 the city experienced a population increase of about 32%1. The continued influx of people combined with decades of inadequate urban planning, has led to rapid spread of informal settlements with deplorable living conditions. The major problems include overcrowding, inadequate housing and lack of basic services, in particular water supply and sanitation.

November 2007 - The Government of Mozambique received a €1.2 million grant to undertake an irrigation project preparation study to enable the mobilization of funds for the development of 10,000 hectares of irrigated farmland. Sugar cane has been proposed in the pre-feasibility study as the main crop to be grown in the area to supply cane for sugar/ethanol production.

December 2009 - The Center for Community Development (CCODE) received a €610,000 grant to improve the living conditions of a population of urban poor from the slums surrounding the City of Blantyre, Malawi, by facilitating access to water supply and sanitation in the form of a special revolving loan fund for water and sanitation investments for the urban poor; and to demonstrate and stimulate interest in the combination of water, sanitation and housing as an integrated approach to urban development in a context of rapid urbanization and the problems associated with urban slums.

April 2009 – ECOLINK, a local South African NGO, received a € 374,000 grant to implement a project designed to assist communities in the Ehlanzeni District of Mpumalanga Province of South Africa to improve output from their communal food gardens through improved collection and management of surface run-off from precipitation and better management of soil moisture.