From February 8-10, 2023, the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in partnership with the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) and the Regional Rusumo Hydroelectric Project (RRHP) conducted an experiential tour of this flagship regional hydropower infrastructure project that is located at Rusumo Falls at the border of Tanzania and Rwanda on River Kagera. It is one of the largest investment power projects in the southeastern part of East Africa and is a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of citizens in the three partner countries: Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
This NBI flagship hydropower project addresses the acute shortage of electricity experienced by the three Kagera sub-region countries, which in turn has negatively affected the economies and socio-economic livelihoods of the citizens of these three countries.
The experiential learning tour targeted senior government officials who are decision makers, or who influence decisions made regarding transboundary water management. The learning tour offered these influential government officials an interactive and practical approach to learning about an activity that they would otherwise not likely participate in.
The objectives of the experiential learning tour were as follows:
1) Promote sharing of good practices in the management and development of transboundary water resources. NBI will benchmark good practices that can be promoted for replication within the other Nile Basin Member States.
2) Facilitate learning from flagship projects that are successful in the management and development of transboundary water resources.
3) Promote learning of sustainable methods of harnessing benefits from transboundary water resources.
4) Demonstrate the benefits of cooperation in transboundary water resources.
The NBI Experiential Learning Tour is part of the #NileCooperation for Climate Resilience (NCCR) Project, which is supported by the World Bank through the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) Trust Fund.