The wealth of natural and human resources, coupled with its water resource development opportunities, made the Zambezi Watercourse ideal for assessing current governance approaches and its effectiveness to support sustainable socio-economic development impact, particularly community and livelihoods scales, through implementing the WEFE Nexus. There were three phases to the study: firstly, a collation and assessment of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) governance documents and approaches; secondly, evaluating the risks identified in the scientific assessments of the study; and lastly, to support existing ZAMCOM initiatives through practicable interventions that would enhance WEFE Nexus implementation, using the findings from Phases 1 and 2. The study established that there was a wealth of information available about various aspects of the Zambezi Watercourse, including the WEFE Nexus. At a macro level, the ZAMCOM Agreement and the Strategic Plan for the Zambezi Watercourse 2018-2040 address the governance framework and related high-level enabling structures. However, implementation of the governance framework across different geographical scales in the watercourse, particularly at the community and household scales for livelihoods benefits was unclear, as were any tangible WEFE Nexus benefits. The key issue from the scientific assessments was the lack of data on the one hand; and secondly, the quality of the available data could be questionable. This would negatively affect objective scientific assessments that were an important basis for governance intervention decisions. The WEFE nexus governance implementation framework proposed in this study took into account these factors including the unique socio-technical and socio-political dynamics of the watercourse. Consideration of indigenous knowledge systems and traditions and the severe resource constraints that are typical of many African situations were a key factor in the implementation framework configuration. The emphasis of the proposed governance implementation framework is not theoretical or academic, but rather a practitioner perspective that is catalytic, practical and realistic.
- Annex 31: Seetal A., 2020. Water governance, cooperation and information systems: inception report. ACEWATER2 report JRC122955 (Component of deliverable)
- Annex 32: Seetal A., 2020. Water governance, cooperation and information systems: Project Manual “A Catalyst for Practical Governance”. ACEWATER2 report JRC122955 (Main deliverable)
