The Nile Agenda is about what needs to be done to support the attainment of the Nile Vision Objective, agreed by the NBI member countries in 2002 to “achieve sustainable socio-economic development through equitable utilisation of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.” The focus is on the availability of sustainable water resources right across the basin in support of development and provision of benefits. The NBI 10-year strategy (NBI, 2017) (Strategic Direction 1.6) recognises the need to strengthen joint basin and sub-basin water resources management planning (see Box 1). This underlines the need for an overarching Strategic River Basin Management Plan under which future versions of the NBI 10-year strategy and the action plans of the three NBI centres will fall. It will also provide guidance to other regional organisations and the Nile Basin states in terms of the route towards the sustainable development of the Nile River Basin. The objective of the NRBMP is to guide the planning and implementation of water resources management and development interventions in the Nile River Basin at national, sub-regional and regional levels. Specific objectives are:
- To set out (at the strategic level) the strategic actions and associated targets that should be achieved to ensure the sustainable development of the Nile River Basin;
- To serve as an overarching guiding framework for orientating water resources management and development interventions at national, sub-regional and regional levels.
The NRBMP includes indicators of progress for all of the strategic actions and also high-level targets, in the form of 13 Nile Basin Sustainability Targets (NBSDTs) with their own associated indicators of progress. The list of actions areas under each goal have been drawn up in consultation with stakeholders. The Action Areas are high level in nature and are disaggregated into 52 strategic actions. They include action areas in water security, energy security, food security, Environmental Sustainability, Climate Resilience and Water Governance. The Nile Basin 10-year Strategy Goal 6 Strategic Direction 1.6 and 1.7: 1.6 Strengthen joint basin and sub-basin water resources management Planning. Under this Strategic Direction, Nile-SEC is to Develop agreed planning framework to support coordination water resources planning and management in the Nile Basin. 1.7 Strengthen basin investment programmes preparation and management. Under this Strategic Direction, Nile-SEC is to:
- Put in a place a basin‐wide investment programme support function at the Nile‐Sec;
- Develop, promote and initiate implementation of a basin‐wide investment programme building on NBI's sub‐basin level multi‐sector investment programmes.
The Nile River Basin Management Plan (NR-BMP) Document highlights the current situation analysis; future outlook of the strategic water resources analysis; vision, goals and the Nile Basin Sustainable Development Targets (NBSDTs); Action Areas; Plan strategic Actions; and implementation of the NR-BMP. The NR-BMP is not a Nile Basin Initiative Plan but a Plan for the Nile River Basin. As such, the plan is a blueprint that guides the countries and other key players in the basin. The NR-BIP is thus implemented jointly by the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Nile Basin Secretariat(Nile-SEC), The Nile Basin Initiative Subsidiary Action Programmes (NELSAP-CU and ENTRO), Lake Victoria Basin Commission, IGAD, East Africa Power Pool (EAPP) and the countries.