Support to the Niger Basin Authority Capacity-Building Program

At the end of project activities (September 2013) the main results are as follows: 1) The NBA has improved its organizational capacity by: i) improving its financial management and adopting a unique guidelines of financial accounting and administrative procedures as well as a unique procurement regulation ; and ii) computerizing its system of human resource management and adopting the principle of performance evaluation of its executives. 2) The ability to design plan and manage projects and programs as well as the technical expertise of the NBA were strengthened through a series of trainings for NBA’s managers and through the development of tools in the following areas: i) management and strategic and operational planning (work plans and reports based on RBM Strategic Plan 2013-2022) ; and ii) the monitoring of environmental and socio -economic impacts as well as the modeling of the hydraulic operation of the river. 3) In gender the NBA has launched a thinking process to adopt a policy dedicated to institutionalizing gender into its activities in the Niger basin. 4) The visibility of the institution has improved through: i) the recruitment of a communication expert; ii) better coverage of events organized by the institution ; and iii) a more accessible Internet portal of the institution. In addition in September 2013 the NBA adopted a communication plan. 5) The NBA as adopted a Water Charter in force since July 2010 to prevent and manage conflicts to secure water infrastructures and shared natural resources in the interest of the Member States. 5 annexes are being adopted to facilitate the implementation of the Water Charter. 6) Given the poor results from National Focal Structures (NFS) and Users’ National or Regional Coordination Groups (UNCG-URCG) the NBA will have to make them more functional. Note also that the upgrade UNCG made their mandates more legitimate more representative of users and better aligned with the expectations of the NBA. 7) The