Attachment 3 WWF-Norway (GLO-05/312) Semuliki River Catchment and Water Resources Management Project, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo

3. MAJOR CHANGES AND DEVIATIONS IN EXISTING PROGRAMMES

Changes at programme level may include changes in cooperation with local partners (new partners, phasing out partners); new programmes (or new projects within a programme), goals and results including sustainability and any plans for phasing out external technical and financial support; significant budgetary changes etc.

The following information should be given for all new programmes and/or new projects. For existing programmes change of plan should be highlighted.

3.1 Country (Region), Location and Country- (Regional-) code Uganda (UGA) and Democratic republic of Congo (COD) (SAF). Specifically the Semuliki River Basin that covers about 33,500 km2 in the two countries.

3.2 Identification in Norad's system of Agreement numbers: - State name of programme. - State ALL new sub-agreement numbers with names in Norwegian and English

Programme: WWF-Norway’s Freshwater for Life Programme Name (Norwegian): Vannressursforvaltning og bevaring av Semulikielvas nedbørfelt, Uganda og Den demokratiske republikken Kongo Name (English): Semuliki River Catchment and Water Resources Management Project, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo

Local cooperation partner(s) Each local partner should be presented with the following information (3.3 –3 .7):

3.3 Local cooperation partner(s): Contractual partner WWF Eastern Africa Regional Programme Office (EARPO)

Implementation partners WWF EARPO; Local Governments in Bundibugyo, Kabarole, Kyenjojo and Kibaale Districts; Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), National Forestry Authority (NFA), Forest Inspection Division (FID), Department of Water Resources Management (DWRM), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA); Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC); authorities in DRC; NGOs; CBOs; private sector.

3.4 When and for what purpose was the local partner(s) founded? Whom do they represent, and what are their role and their strength(s) in civil society? WWF EARPO was formally founded in 1986. WWF has been present in East Africa since 1962 but its presence in Uganda has for periods been minimal. WWF EARPO’s purpose is in line with that of the WWF network, that is, to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. WWF EARPO has operationalised the global purpose into regional and national strategies and programmes with goals and purposes adapted to the local, national and regional conditions. WWF EARPO represents a global conservation organisation and conservationists in the East African region. WWF’s role in civil society is to bring high quality and scientific information into environment and development

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work, link field projects with policy work, build capacity in civil society and facilitate dialogue between local levels and central government agencies. WWF’s strength is the comprehensive expertise and experience as part of a global network, the partnership abilities and the pragmatic and science based approach.

WWF in Uganda is currently growing and developing its linkages with both government and non- government partners with emphasis on bridging gaps between local communities / civil society and central government agencies.

3.5 How long has the Grant recipient been cooperating with the local partner(s)? What reasons were offered for the choice of local partner(s)? WWF-Norway has cooperated with WWF EARPO since 1997. Cooperation in Uganda has been ongoing since 2003, and in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 2004. WWF EARPO was the natural choice as partner given its capacity and competence in areas that were of mutual interest and due to the fact that the office is part of our common global WWF network.

3.6 Describe the Grant recipient’s contribution to local partner(s) over and above the financial contribution (What added value will the Grant recipient bring to the partnership?): The added value is primarily associated with: i) Technical expertise and experience; ii) Experience in the region and comparable areas outside the region; iii) Ability to share experiences and lessons learned; iv) Ability to do capacity building; v) Ability to link policy and field work strategically; vi) Policy contributions; and vii) Management and coordination capacity. Specifically in Uganda extra value is added by strengthening local communities’ capacity in sustainable natural resource management and facilitating dialogue between local communities / civil society and central government agencies.

3.7 Does the local partner have other partners? If so, who are they? WWF EARPO has a range of central and local government and non-government partners (e.g. Uganda Wildlife Authority, Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment, local governments of Kasese, Kabarole and Bundibugyo Districts) and non-government partners such as NGOs (e.g. Wildlife Conservation Society), CBOs (e.g. Rwenzori Mountaineering Services), local communities, private sector (e.g. Hima Cement) and bilateral and multilateral donors (e.g. Belgian Technical Cooperation).

Programme description

3.8 Long-term overarching development goals: The project goal, which the Project will contribute to but not in itself deliver, is: “The ecosystem functions of the Semuliki River catchment conserve water, biodiversity and other natural resources to meet basic human needs and sustain ecosystem functions”.

3.9 The purpose / immediate objective of the programme for the entire period of the agreement (with quantitative and qualitative indicators): The project purpose, which is what the project will deliver during its lifetime, is proposed as follows for the Inception Phase starting January 2008 and ending June 2009:

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“At least three sub-catchments feeding the Semuliki River are identified, key stakeholders consulted and strategies for integrated water resources management developed by mid 2009”.

Indicators - GIS maps of the catchment produced and in use by mid 2009. - Strategy document for integrated water resources management in priority sub-catchments approved by DWRM in Uganda and relevant authority in DRC by end of 2009 - Data base on catchment conditions established and used by mid 2009.

A preliminary project purpose has been developed for a potential Implementation Phase (July 2009 – December 2012), subject to the outcome of the Inception Phase: “Mechanism for integrated water resources management established for at least three sub-catchments feeding the Semuliki River by the end of 2012”.

3.10 Anticipated results (OUTPUTS) for the entire period of the agreement (with quantitative and qualitative indicators): A set of outputs have been identified for the Inception Phase, some of which will continue into an Implementation Phase should this later be recommended, agreed upon and approved. These outputs are intended to produce the project purpose for the Inception Phase referred to above: Output 1: Directorate of Water Resources Management, Districts local governments and other key authorities and organisations facilitated to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate important information on catchment conditions, with particular emphasis on physical and environmental conditions of importance for water resources and biodiversity.

Indicators - At least 40% of partners contributing to the process by June 2009 and 80 % by end of 2010.

Output 2: Awareness of catchment natural resource issues with emphasis on water resources and biodiversity increased, including status, trends, degradation, legislation, policy and legal frameworks, and possible opportunities for improved management.

Indicators - Level of awareness of key natural resource issues increased by 60% by mid 2009 and 80% by end of 2010 among target groups

Output 3: Participatory approaches facilitated for problem and stakeholder identification and analysis; and action planning for catchment and integrated water resources management

Indicators - A minimum of 10 community groups or water users associations supported to implement at least one priority issue identified in their catchments.

Output 4: A strategy for integrated water resources management in the identified catchments facilitated and developed

Indicators - Strategy document approved for implementation by May 2009.

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Output 5: Capacity building needs identified and priority capacity building carried out with particular reference to integrated water resources management.

Indicators - Capacity needs assessment undertaken and completed by March 2009.

The following additional outputs and indicators may be illustrative in terms of outputs that may be addressed in a subsequent Implementation Phase, should such a phase be recommended and approved: Output 6: Action needs in terms of natural resource management in the catchment identified under output 5 implemented.

Indicators - At least 50% of identified and prioritised actions implemented by June 2010 and 80% by end of 2012.

Output 7: Mechanism for integrated water resources management piloted in three sub catchments identified under output 1.

Indicators - Water Catchment Master Plan revised and more information (water quality & quantity) included by end of 2010. - Water resources management mechanism or body across administrative boundaries operational by end of 2012.

Output 8: Trans-boundary coordination and cooperation mechanisms explored and established for catchment and water resources management on the DRC and Uganda sides of the Semuliki River Basin.

Indicators - By end of 2009 lessons, experiences and specific management issues learned from both Uganda and the DRC incorporated in long-term cross border catchment management plan developed by the Project. - By end of 2010 communications between catchments communities in Uganda and DRC improved through a minimum of three official or formalised contacts per year. - By end of 2012 regional technical forum established with a clear mandate, structure, audience and operational procedures jointly developed and agreed upon. Og dette er mechanism for IWRM

3.11 Target group (relates to the purpose / immediate objective): The main and immediate beneficiaries of the Project will be the local people living in the Semuliki River catchment on the Ugandan and DRC sides. These people are also key stakeholders and a main target group for interventions such as awareness raising, problem analysis and facilitating catchment protection and sound management through for instance modifications of land use practices. The inhabitants are mainly smallscale farmers living in the catchment and relying on local resources for their livelihoods.

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Currently there are pressures to intensify and diversify the agricultural production systems with the introduction of new crops in the catchment. Some of the newly introduced crops include vanilla, cocoa, tobacco, tea and rice that are planted on the banks of the rivers and their tributaries up to the water courses. Other economic activities include brewing and distillation of local gins, cattle dips, car washing which are carried out in the banks of the rivers, some of which create pollution of the rivers. The Project will benefit these farming households and communities with improved knowledge and strengthened capacities to develop and implement integrated natural resource management strategies and action plans that will contribute to conservation, sustainable use and where necessary restoration of water and other natural resources. This in turn contributes to improved livelihoods and reduces vulnerability of people and environment in relation to climate change.

The policy and decision-makers, especially those at district and lower local government levels, are also a target group benefitting from this Project. Uganda has recently completed decentralisation of government services with transfer of resource and decision-making powers to lower local government levels. The District (Local Council level 5/LC 5) is an important centre of power with representative staff from key sectors including agriculture, water, health, sanitation and environment. The Districts have elected officials with the Chairman being head of government in the District, another level to be targeted. The decentralised arrangement is replicated in lower local government levels including County (LC 4), Sub-County (LC 3), Parish (LC 2) and Village (LC 1) that have also been established and will targeted where relevant. Elected leaders and departmental staff in the districts concerned with the Project will benefit from strengthened capacities.

The Management structures in the DRC are not yet identified at the time of developing the proposal but contacts will be established during the Inception Phase and the relevant structures targeted for interventions.

Indirect beneficiaries will include the national and regional agencies within water, environment, agriculture, forestry etc. that will access important information and lessons on best practices from implementation of the Project and beyond. These will benefit from improved tools, methods and approaches for integrated ecosystem management, in particular the water and environment sector that is currently shaping the future frameworks for water resources management.

The Semuliki River is economically important for domestic and commercial fisheries businesses. Improved management will benefit those depending on the River for subsistence or commercial purposes.

Downstream water users along the Nile will benefit to some extent through secured water supply. The global community will benefit through conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity of global importance in the catchment as well as to some limited extent due to CO 2 sequestration in the catchment forests.

3.12 Describe in what way the new programme / new components are planned in relation to /in coordination with national plans or give reasons why not: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) The Project will contribute to sustainable livelihoods of the local communities through increased incentives for sustainable use of forest, water and other natural resources. This objective is consistent with the country’s overall strategy for poverty reduction as articulated in the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). It is recognised, among other things based on a participatory poverty assessment case study on the environment, that the quality of natural resources is declining in Uganda and this is increasing poverty and vulnerability.

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Environmental plans and strategies The National Environment Action Plan (1994) systematically identifies and evaluates alternative investments in natural resources sectors in relation to other sectors of the economy. Investment in forest biodiversity and water resources management is seen as necessary to contribute to national sustainable development.

The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) identifies priority strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of Uganda’s biodiversity, of which the catchment protection and sound management strategies of this project will contribute.

Uganda’s Forestry Policy (2001) prioritises the development of an integrated forest sector that will achieve sustainable increases in economic, social and environmental benefits from forests and trees by all the people of Uganda, especially the poor and vulnerable. The National Forest Plan (2002) is the framework that turns this policy into action aimed at poverty eradication and sustainable forest resource management targeting local, district, national and international interests in biodiversity, among others. The stated objective of the proposed project is consistent with this broader framework.

The water sector in Uganda is currently in an advanced stage of reform. It will be important for the Project to work closely with the Directorate of Water Resource Management (DWRM). There is a shift towards a system for a more holistic approach to water resources management and away from a management based on a sector wise approach and based on poorly coordinated activities between various administrative units within the same catchment. The Project aims to assist in piloting and shaping the new water resources management framework.

Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) The Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) is the Government’s strategic framework for eradicating rural poverty through agricultural transformation. Its goal is to contribute to poverty eradication and food security by increasing agricultural profitability through sustainable enhancement of productivity and expansion of the commercial and industrial base of agricultural products. Therefore, the PMA provides a blueprint for “eradicating poverty by improving the natural resource-based livelihoods of the rural poor in a sustainable manner”.

Whereas PMA has strength in promoting private sector involvement and multi-sectoral approach in sustainable management of natural resources, it has inherent weaknesses in over emphasis on promotion of agriculture that would possibly result in fragile ecosystems being brought under cultivation. It is silent on biodiversity within agricultural systems, and lacks emphasis on an ecosystem approach to achieving sustainable agriculture. This said PMA provides an entry point for the activities of the Project, particularly where they address the local community livelihood, equitable sharing of benefits from biodiversity conservation and control of land degradation.

3.13 Total budget per year:

WWF-Norway Norad direct Norad adm. grant Year Total budget matching funds project funding (8 per cent) 2008 170,329 1,532,957 122,637 1,825,922 2009* 2010*

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WWF-Norway Norad direct Norad adm. grant Year Total budget matching funds project funding (8 per cent) 2011* 2012* Total * - The first 18 months are an Inception Phase and thereafter an Implementation Phase (3 ½ year) may be carried out, if recommended by partners and stakeholders and approved by WWF and Norad. A budget for the last 6th months of the Inception Phase will be developed before 1st October 2008, as will an indicative budget for the possible Implementation Phase.

3.14 Specify contributions from other donors to the programme: So far no specific donors are contributing directly in cash terms to the Project. However, for some interventions the Project may seek additional funding, in particular where requests or priorities come up where WWF does not have the financial or other resources to assist. Various initiatives complement the proposed project, of which one or two may be approached by the Project to provide direct support (see below).

The Nile Basin Initiatives (NBI) through its Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (NELSAP) have invested 1.8 million US$ in the Lakes Albert and Edward Fisheries Project working in Ugandan and DRC. The first phase of the project is near completion and will enter a full implementation phase that would focus on the fisheries resources in the two lakes, the livelihoods of the fisher communities and on catchment protection. Opportunities for potential complementarities, cooperation and coordination will be explored, and risks for duplication and conflict avoided.

The Belgium Technical Corporation (BTC) is supporting Bundibugyo and Kabarole Districts in community development initiatives including investments on roads infrastructure. BTC has also helped the two districts to develop environmental action plans and has recently provided technical assistance to the Bundibugyo local government administration to submit a project proposal to the NBI through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) for the rehabilitation of sections of the Semuliki river banks in Rwabisengo Sub-county as a response to the changing river course and hence the changing international border and subsequent conflicts.

The Lake Albert Eastern Catchment Management Initiative and the Rwenzori Mountains Conservation and Environmental Management Project, both funded by Norad and WWF-Norway, and implemented by WWF will complement the Semuliki Project to a great extent as these projects are working on similar thematic issues and dealing with many of the same partners and stakeholders.

3.15 Brief assessment of anticipated risk (Factors that will, if they occur, have an adverse effect on the achievements of planned results of the programme): Besides high-level factors such as political (in)stability in the region, significant deterioration of the economic climate and prolonged catastrophic drought situations or climate change phenomena, the key risks assumptions include:  Government acceptance of inputs from grassroots in formulating land use, water and natural resource use policies affecting communities in the catchment.  The water sector reform process in Uganda does not provide an enabling environment for the integrated water resources management approach facilitated by the Project. There is still a lack of clarity as to what will be the future structures for (integrated) water resources management. Water resources management is, in reality, still fully

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centralised and water resources on the ground, where the daily decision over water use is taken, is hardly supervised or regulated at all.  Extent to which administrative structures in the DRC are in place and operational.  Oil and Gas exploration and production impacts on the catchment, as well as civil rest and political stability in the region.  Degree to which key stakeholders are willing to contribute to the conservation and improved management of natural resources in the Semuliki River Basin, in particular water resources and water source areas (e.g. important forests, wetlands).  Remarkably high population growth combined with few alternatives to subsistence agriculture and harvesting natural resources in the immediate surroundings put pressure on natural resources, causes clearing of tropical forest of importance for catchment characteristics.  Limited capacity and lack of coordination between important government agencies working on natural resource management (e.g. forests, protected areas, water) may reduce the chances of successful management of the catchment and its water resources in an integrated manner.  Integrated water resources management (IWRM) involves a number of government departments and ministries. Co-ordination and cooperation will be demanding given the different interests. Experience working in the eastern catchment of Lake Albert is that some of the key government institutions that should have participated in the IWRM are not fully involved, e.g. water supply, health, community development to mention a few. The project should pay much attention in the situational and stakeholder analysis from the very beginning so participation is entrenched into the implementation.  To maintain the political will throughout the project period could become a challenge as this is a relatively small project with limited resource to meet the wide range of demands in the districts. Expectation are bound to be very high and varied among stakeholder.  Working in an extensive catchment cutting across two countries with different systems and cultures in many respects, maintaining political support and yet deliver to meet every ones expectation will be very challenging.  As has been experienced on various occasions, having a lean structure in the Project and to a large extent being reliant on the local and central government agencies and in turn their resources, will be a challenge and risk in terms of performance. The project is time bound and will be operating under a tight time schedule, and is relatively speaking well resourced. The staff of the project would like to see results and will push for timely delivery which might not be the case for the local partners who are less resourced and possibly less motivated. Working in this kind of environment can be frustrating for the project and may lead to delays and sub standard deliveries, particularly for interventions where partners take lead.  The project area has high cross border conflict potential firstly as a result of its remoteness from administrative control in Kinshasa. Rebel groups in the great lakes region have taken refuge in eastern DR Congo. Political stability and governance is not a guarantee in the eastern DR Congo. The discovery of oil in the region is another potential source of conflict if it is not carefully handled by the two nations.

3.16 Briefly describe any plans for phasing out the programme(s) and how sustainability will be ensured (technical/administrative and financial): The Project aims to ensure sustainability of its outcomes through the application of various methods and techniques:

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1. The Project will build the capacities of the government agencies and local communities by working closely with them, rather than constructing alternative and temporary parallel project structures as the means of pursuing programme objectives. 2. Participation and empowerment of stakeholders in the natural resource management process through improved benefit flows and livelihood security. The Project will also work towards ensuring ownership, and association with, project activities by the target groups. 3. Where the Project introduces new procedures or processes these should be flexible and capable of adapting to new operational environments even those not foreseen during project implementation. 4. The Project will consider to develop a business plan during the course of the Project to seek sustainable financing for the implementation of the catchment management plan beyond the life of the Project, including exploring possibilities of innovative financing mechanisms. 5. All livelihood improvements and conservation initiatives that the Project undertakes will be conducted within the limits of local cultures, religious beliefs and social practices. These initiatives will also take into account the roles, needs and interests of both men and women in the project area.

The Project will develop an exit strategy during the Implementation Phase and progressively prepare for exit so that most of the activities that it initiates and that need to continue are incorporated into the government or other processes thereafter.

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