Establishment of Three National Focal Groups (NFGs) and Capacity Building of Eight NFGs In SADC Member States

After the successful completion of the Sustainable Groundwater Management in the SADC Member States Phase 1 project, the SADC-GMI is now implementing Phase 2 of the same project, under the strategic guidance of the SADC Secretariat. The 4-year phase 2 project is financed by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA), in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), through the World Bank.

During Phase 1 of the project, SADC-GMI facilitated the establishment of five National Focal Groups (NFGs) in five SADC Member States, namely: Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The NFGs were established as an advocacy group to organise a collective voice for the groundwater sector in the country and to increase the groundwater profile, advocating for investments and helping to mobilise resources for groundwater management and monitoring.

The NFGs were also established to facilitate groundwater technical research and capacity development with a targeted focus on mapping the groundwater resource, improving information gathering and groundwater data management while emphasising the monitoring and evaluation of groundwater use in the country.

During phase 2, OneWorld assisted SADC-GMI in establishing three new National Focal Groups (NFGs) in three Member States (Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Zambia) and to build the capacity of eight NFGs (a combination of states from phases 1 and 2) in eight SADC Member States to operationalise them in achieving their mandate.