Draft Recommendations of the

Role of NGOs and Media in the Nile Basin Initiative

Session of the 3^rd World Water Forum

We, the participants of the session, after listening to different presentations and engaging in a dialogue for the future of sustainable and just development of the Nile Basin and the criteria needed to ensure real effective public participation, recommend the following actions by:

Nile Basin Discourse:

To ensure that the NBD achieves the hoped for role of active participation by all NGOs and civil society groups free of involvement of NBI governments and partners, we recommend:

1. The involvement of NGOs and civil society in the NBD process should be left to the Nile Basin NGOs and civil society groups, with no interference from either Nile Basin countries or the NBI partners including the IUCN, WB, CIDA and UNDP.
2. Real consideration must be given to the NBS proposal submitted to the Cairo Workshop (Annex V). In such case,
1. The current NBD disk would serve as the NBS regional office and the main place of activities while maintaining the Canadian presence for fund-raising activities and legal purposes.
2. Resignation of the current board of directors and modification – if appropriate – to its by-laws must be discussed in a General Meeting of the members after adequate announcement in all national papers and accepting membership to the Nile Basin Society to all interested residents and accepting nominations from the members to form the board of directors based on their experience and through making their résumés/CVs public and signing a no-conflict of interest agreement.
3. The current Facilitator – if he accepts - should remain in his capacity to ensure continuity of whatever work he may have started and would be encouraged to nominate himself in the elections. He would also be responsible for contacting all local NGOs in the Nile Basin and encouraging them to apply for membership and nominate themselves to the NBS board.
3. Any NGO (local, national or international) that wish to be a partner of the NBS should be screened by an outside agency (ForeignAid.Com) who would make scores according to the system found on their web site (http://www.foreignaid.com/) to decide its transparency, democracy, accountability as well as social impact. All organizations must fit with the definitions of NGO [1] or civil society [2] .
4. Funding should be sought independently and from sources other than these supporting the NBI. Part of the funding for public participation in NBI projects must be included in all NBI funded projects and directed to the NBS/NBD.

Nile Basin countries:

1. Immediate adoption of the International Convention of Non-Navigational Use of Watercourses as a fair solution to the legal problems existing between Nile Basin countries. This implies that all previous Nile treaties be nullified.
2. Immediate adoption by all Nile Basin countries of the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention). Respective governments should make accessible all information about current and planned projects including their environmental impact assessments (including social impact assessment) and schedules for public consultation meetings and results. Access to Geographic Information Systems should also be granted as well as results of different simulations models regarding potential water resources scenarios under different climate change scenarios and also as a result of implementation of different projects both up- and down-stream.
3. Implementing constitutional changes, in close participation of NGOs (particularly human rights organizations), civil society and media representatives and under supervision of relevant UN agencies and interested international NGOs with the aim of ensuring that the laws respect freedoms of expression and associations and to ensure minimizing governmental interference in NGO, civil society and media affairs with the exception of monitoring fiscal responsibility. This should include facilitating and allowing private ownership of all types of media including newspapers, radio and TV stations with particular attention to community-based radio stations with no censorship. These changes should reflect the Arusha Charter (African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation (Arusha 1990))
4. Removal of all tax and regulations against all equipment necessary for media production and communication (including internet), this includes send/receive satellite equipment.
5. Removal of all custom and import barriers to equipment needed for modern irrigation as well as alternative sources of energies.
6. Activating anti-corruption laws, mechanisms and bodies that should be conducted away from government interference and with a mandate to investigate all government bodies as well as procurement mechanisms. This should be conducted in collaboration and supervision of international organizations such as Transparency International (TI).
7. Removal of barriers of movement of people and goods between Nile Basin countries, including visa requirements.

International Organizations:

1. Immediate involvement of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Nile Basin Initiative, as the only body for conducting the complex environmental impact assessments required for the whole cascade of projects of the Nile Basin Initiative collectively and individually. The UNEP should be the authority to contract the EIAs if necessary.
2. Immediate involvement of UNICEF as well as the EU in monitoring and steering the process of public participation in the NBI projects as well as International NGOs as the Green Cross and International Rivers Network. This process should be free of administrative and/or financial influences by Nile Basin countries and NBI ‘partners’ and should include all stakeholders including the Diaspora.

Funding agencies:

We call on funding agencies, governmental and international. To:

1. Make funding of the NBI projects conditional to adoption of above recommendations as the only measure for real sustainable development.
2. Provide immediate funding for capacity building of local, regional and international NGOs involved in integrated water resources management. The funds should be directly allocated and dispersed by the donor agencies themselves (not through Nile Basin countries or the NBI nor conditioned to their approval).
3. Hold funding of the Subsidiary Action Programs (SAPs) and individual country programs related to water resources and/or irrigation schemes until the Shared Vision Programs (SVPs) have progressed and been evaluated satisfactorily.
4. Support for Basin-wide NGOs in trans-boundary water resources. Funding mechanisms for these NGOs must be developed on project basis and in conformation of the development mandate of the funding agencies and should not be subject to governmental approval.
5. Incentives and mechanisms to ensure improved ethics by foreign investors as well as agencies operating in Nile Basin countries ought to be put in place, “Given the link between governance and development worldwide, the responsibility of the international community cannot be overstated at this juncture. In this sense, governance is at a crossroads. There is still a soft and wavering commitment to improving governance in many quarters today, including members within the OECD and the G-8, and as stated, there are challenges within the EU itself. Admittedly, the crucial requirement for political will in this area, where powerful vested interests conspire against the concrete progress which is essential for development, cannot be ignored.” [3]

3. We call on Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to take more active role in monitoring the activities and use of the funds allocated to the long-term communications component of the Shared Vision Programs, as well as publishing the results of the short-term component. We also call on CIDA to evaluate the use and results of the funds allocated to IUCN for the establishment of the NBD as well as the administrative structure that resulted. We also call on CIDA to abide by the Canadian laws of having a Canadian agency to administer such funds instead of direct allocation as well as close consultation with the Nile Basin Diaspora organizations and consultants. We also hope that CIDA would support the activities of such organizations inside and outside Canada. We also call on CIDA to support and consult with the NBS as a Canadian NGO aiming to ensure real public participation in the NBI.