Nile Basin Initiative

#NileDay2026 For the marathon, the march, the high-level main event and every investment in between, thank you Republic of South Sudan! nilebasin.org/content/voices…

Today is #WorldWaterDay🫧 See Page 8: NBI's pilot projects across Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda to improve the situation of drinking water, sanitation and people's wellbeing. Thank you @theGEF @UNDPUganda #SDG6 #WaterandGender #NileCooperation chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/nilebasin.org/sites/default/…

Dr. Eng. Niyonzima and the Ambassador discussed ➡️Ongoing efforts with non-ratifying countries of the Cooperative Framework Agreement, to allow all NBI’s 10 member states advance toward an inclusive Nile River Basin Commission nilebasin.org/about-us/coope… ➡️Sudan being one of non-ratifying countries due to various concerns, the Ambassador mentioned a need for NBI to continue providing a platform where every country’s concerns are heard with the regard to the Framework and the Nile River Basin Investment Programme nilebasin.org/en/content/nil… The ED reported benefits NBI delivered to Sudan in recent years – despite the precarious situation in the country – through the ➡️a basin-wide dam safety reference framework, strategy, and guidelines for coordinated planning, regulation, and monitoring @ciwaprogram ➡️the Nile Basin Water-Smart Irrigation Study, which resulted in practical guidance to improve water use efficiency and food security in Eastern Nile ➡️flood and drought outlooks and other early warning information, and placings for 22 water young professionals at NBI since 2022 @ciwaprogram #WorldBank #GIZ ➡️Water quality monitoring censors and training for lab technicians @ciwaprogram #WaterKnowsNoBoundaries The Ambassador assured the Executive Director of Sudan’s commitment to NBI, including through country contributions.

#OneNile The Executive Director carried the same message of #NileCooperation and its benefits up to the gate of H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed at the Embassy of Sudan in Kampala City.

With Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda, H.E. Col. Joseph Rutabana, Dr. Eng. Nestor Niyonzima discussed 1. Ongoing efforts with non-ratifying countries of the Cooperative Framework Agreement so that all NBI’s 10 member states can move together toward a Commission 2. A milestone: how countries have finalised the flagship Nile River Basin Investment Programme. Some 59 transformative socio-economic projects await NBI clearance, before resource mobilisation can begin nilebasin.org/en/content/nil… 3. Benefits that NBI is delivering through its NELSAP office based in Kigali, including: ➡️the Uganda-Rwanda hydropower project at Shango/Mbarara, out of which Uganda is earning significant incomes annually ➡️the flagship Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectricity Project owned by Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania and Uganda’s support to sustaining its operations nilebasin.org/content/80mw-r… ➡️six regional high-tech hydrological monitoring stations that NBI made available to Rwanda and recently enhanced with online water quality monitoring censors #GIZ @ciwaprogram ➡️the urgent need for ownership of NBI, demonstrated through country contributions by all member states 🇧🇮🇨🇩🇪🇬🇪🇹🇰🇪🇷🇼🇸🇸🇸🇩🇹🇿🇺🇬 The ED and the Ambassador exchanged gifts #Agaseke

The Executive Director set this whole week aside to reach out to key stakeholders – Ambassadors of the Nile Basin 🇧🇮🇪🇹🇰🇪🇷🇼🇸🇩– to update them on progress and benefits of #NileCooperation and discuss pressing challenges that bind the riparian countries together.

The Executive Director and the Ambassador had a wide-ranging conversation on: 1. The high amounts of water the Ethiopian highlands contribute to the Nile 2. Ongoing diplomatic engagement among NBI’s ten countries to move forward on the Cooperative Framework Agreement 3. NBI’s transboundary work in Eastern Nile to benefit downstream countries Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan - in energy generation, restoring watersheds, irrigation, young professionals’ attachments, information systems and tools for decision support 4. The flagship Nile River Basin Investment Programme, which includes 59 potentially transformative projects currently undergoing NBI processes before resource mobilization can begin @EAC_LVBC @IGADSecretariat @EAPowerPool @NEPAD_Agency 5. A need to strengthen communication between NBI and the Embassy 6 The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam 🇪🇹. Even @flyethiopian! They agreed on the importance of sustained country contributions, which support NBI to advance its shared vision.

Today in Kampala, Dr. Eng. Nestor Niyonzima met H.E. Amb. @EtsegenetYimenu of Ethiopia to Uganda and Burundi. Engagements like this build partnerships, update stakeholders on #NileCooperation, and highlight shared benefits from NBI. Since 1999.

#NileCooperation ... Ms Alicia noted the tangible progress NBI has made, mainly in these 7 areas under the "Support to Transboundary Water Cooperation in the Nile Basin" project, funded through #GIZ: 1. Hydromet monitoring system, through which NBI and its member states are successfully providing real-time information for power generation operations and agricultural planning while predicting climate extremes, such as disastrous flooding that hit Sudan last year. 2. The flagship Nile River Basin Investment Programme, designed to transform economies basin-wide through NBI, #EasternAfricaPowerPool #IGAD #LakeVictoriaBasinCommission and #AUDANEPAD 3. Diplomacy to help build trust and actualize the entry into force of the Cooperative Framework Agreement on 13 October 2024 through on-going dialogue with non-ratifying countries. 4. The Strategic Water Resources Analysis (SWRA), using advanced modelling to understand basin-wide water availability up to 2050. nilebasin.org/en/action-area… 5. The State of the River Nile Basin Report, a comprehensive assessment that NBI aims to produce every five years. 6. Coordinated cascade dam management between Uganda and South Sudan to optimise energy generation while managing flood risks. 7. Development of the Nile River Basin Management Plan to guide sustainable management of the shared Nile waters.

#NileCooperation Ms. Alicia Van Den Boom, Head of Cooperation @UgBerlinEmbassy visited us today, with Country Director James Macbeth Forbes. Meeting ED Dr Eng Nestor Niyonzima, she called ours a cooperation “as good as possible”, one that Germany would like to remain close.

#ExchangeVisit #Debrief 12 things that stood out for Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe @ZAMBEZICOM and @AuthorityRiver during the exchange visit to NBI: i. NBI’s ability to bring together 10 countries of varying backgrounds and socio-economic standing to cooperate on managing and investing on the Nile, what one delegate called “evidence that water is a point of cooperation”. ii. How NBI has put a premium on cooperation iii. The modern landing site NBI implemented on Lake George for Uganda under the Lakes Edward and Albert Integrated Fisheries and Water Resources Management (LEAF II) Project, including how water resource management is integrated with livelihoods, how communities are empowered with project ownership📸 iv. The active, real-time information systems NBI is managing for basin-wide hydrological monitoring and the importance of having specialists and structures to keep them running (to inform flood and drought preparedness, agricultural panning and hydropower generation) v. NBI’s use of satellite technology to transmit data to national and regional data centres simultaneously vi. NBI’s advanced modelling, informing both downstream and upstream systems of the Nile vii. NBI’s data-sharing and information systems, useful for addressing challenges such as historic flooding in Mozambique viii. NBI’s high-tech Decision Support System, and how it has been applied at national level in Uganda @min_WaterUg and basin-wide ix. Uganda’s effective integrated water resources and nature-based approaches in managing the Albertine zone/catchment (out of a station NBI helped establish in Fort Portal under LEAF II). x. NBI’s “unique” collaboration with national institutions, including the Ugandan army and police, its integration with @nilebasin and stakeholder engagement overall xi. NBI’s expanded regional hydrological expert working group, a subset of which gathers quarterly to produce the Nile Basin Seasonal Hydrological Outlook xii. NBI’s resource mobilisation capacity 🌟This visit was first time in 16 years that representatives of the Zambezi riparian countries travelled together to learn from and exchange ideas with NBI. See more in press release nilebasin.org/sites/default/…

#NileCooperation #ExchangeVisit A visiting team of 24 water officials from the @ZAMBEZICOM @AuthorityRiver and #HidroelectricaDeCahoraBassa spent Tuesday at Jinja Pier on Lake Victoria, exchanging knowledge with the Nile Basin Initiative on the Regional Hydrological Monitoring System — a flagship NBI-supported programme strengthening water security and climate resilience across the Nile Basin, with support from @GIZAfricanUnion. The delegation learned about Uganda’s experience with real-time hydrological data how this critical information supports hydropower dam operations, flood preparedness and agricultural planning, as well as system maintenance and operations. Discussions also covered operational challenges regionally, including limited country uptake and occasional vandalism by people and baboons. Yesterday, the group travelled to Fort Portal City, where they visited a zonal office established for @min_WaterUg with support from the Nile Basin Initiative - along with a water quality laboratory - under the Lakes Edward and Albert Integrated Fisheries and Water Resources Management Project (LEAF II). There, officials exchanged experiences on Uganda’s multi-pronged approach to managing shared water resources and ecosystems, including innovations in flood risk management, efforts to achieve #SDG6 (Water and Sanitation), and the pressures created by rapid population growth, urbanisation and landslides. With 98% of Uganda’s water resources transboundary, regional cooperation and tools such as NBI’s Decision Support System have been playing a critical role in planning and management. Today, the delegation — representing Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe — will visit Lake George to see a modern fish landing site established through the LEAF II project. This exchange builds on a reciprocal visit by the Nile Basin Initiative to the #Zambezi Basin in 2024, when NBI officials met basin institutions and visited Kariba Dam, one of Africa’s largest hydropower facilities. Learning from each other strengthens the ability of Africa’s river basin organisations to support countries in building climate resilience, improving water governance and planning investments that benefit communities across borders.

We shall exchange knowledge, ideas, and learnings on climate resilience and cooperative management of shared water resources. @AfDB_Group @AuthorityRiver @nilebasin @LeticiaNgorima @FelixNgamlagosi @Bishop_Rowen @MwasitiRas58976 @GeraldPhi

#NileCooperation #HappytoHost 24 women and men arrived this misty morning at our office in Entebbe – visitors from @ZAMBEZICOM @AuthorityRiver @UNCCD Songwe River Basin Commission and Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa. They are here for an exchange mission since NBI visited them in 2024.

Today, Executive Director Dr. Eng. Nestor Niyonzima warmly received the new Chairperson of NBI's "twin" institution @nilebasin Ms Aynalem Ashebir, who paid a courtesy call on him. "We cannot do #NileCooperation without civil society," Dr Nestor remarked.

#NileCooperation Inside latest edition of the NBI Secretariat newsletter: 💧 bio of NBI's new Executive Director 📷 💧highlights from 33rd Council of Ministers' meeting 💧World Bank project closure: How NBI performed @ciwaprogram 💧Big takeaways from a staff retreat! nilebasin.org/sites/default/…

#NileCooperation Video is just one of >30 stories in our latest newsletter edition👇 nilebasin.org/sites/default/…

#NileCooperation Have you seen this yet? A video on how NBI is building its member states' capacity in addressing declining water quality across the Nile Basin compounded by increasing #Pollution. @ciwaprogram youtube.com/watch?v=bQpXSF…

#WhereWereYou #NileDay2026 Runner 005, also NBI Executive Director, Dr. Eng. Nestor Niyonzima, went all 9.94km of the run. He called the marathon a landmark for bringing people together and promoting good health and a healthy environment. ❤️‍🩹🌳