MINUTES OF THE 5TH MEETING OF AFRICA GROUNDWATER NETWORK (AGW-NET) HELD AT PACIFIC HOTEL, BUJUMBURA BURUNDI 10 and 11TH APRIL, 2013
5/1 MEMBERSHIP
1. Prof. Tamiru Abiye Network Manager RSA
2. Dr. Muna Mirghani Steering Committee Member Sudan
3. Dr. Moustapha Diene Steering Committee Member Senegal
4. Mrs. Yasmina Rais El Fenni Cap-Net Secretariat RSA
5. Eng. Mohamed Elrawady Steering Committee Member Egypt
6. Prof. Tenalem Ayenew Steering Committee Member Ethiopia
7. Dr. Callist Tindimugaya Steering Committee Member Uganda
8. Dr. Richard Owen Steering Committee/Website Manager Zimbabwe
9. Dr. Hudson H. Nkotagu Steering Committee Member Tanzania
10. Mr. Kees Leendertse Cap Net Secretariat RSA
11. Dr. Martin O. Eduvie Steering Committee Member /Secretary Nigeria
5/2 APOLOGIES
1. Prof. Daniel C.W. Nkhuwa Steering Committee Member Zambia
5/3 OPENING
The meeting started at 9.50 am. The Manager of Nile IWRM Mr. Evariste Sinarinzi welcomed members of the Africa Groundwater Network (AGW-Net) to Burundi and wished them successful deliberations. Mrs Yasmina Rais El Fenni has also made a welcome address and mentioned that CapNet has quite a lot of funds this year. The meeting was officially opened by the Network Manager, Prof. Tamiru Abiye.
5/4 MANAGER’S OPENING REMARKS
The Manager welcomed all to the meeting and thanked members for their cooperation and the confidence reposed on him to be elected as the Manager of the AGW-Net. He appreciated members’ attendance and the outgoing AGW-Net Manager, Dr. Richard Owen for all his contributions to see that the AGW-Net takes off on a sound footing and the tremendous results it has achieved within the short period of its establishment. In addition, he informed the SC members that Dr. Richard Owen has accepted to continue to manage the AGW-Net website. He also appreciated the hospitality of our host, the Nile IWRM, Burundi Chapter for all their efforts and facilities provided for the meeting. Tamiru Abiye formally took over as a network manager from 1 Jan 2013, but has been active in the manager’s role since Nov 2012.
MoU with Water Research Commission (WRC)
The Manager briefed the meeting on the progress of the MoU with WRC of South Africa that will be hosting the AGW-Net. He said he was in contact with Dr. Shafick Adams and that he was informed that in principle the Executive of the WRC has accepted but there are some concerns and queries that he is dealing with at the moment and hopefully, the process will be finalised in due course. The 2013 annual contract between CapNet and the Host Institution, WRC, still has to be signed before 2013 annual funds can be transferred.
5/5 ADOPTION OF AGENDA
The agenda as proposed by the network manager was adopted by SC members after some amendments with the inclusion of the following:
1. Institutional membership
2. Newsletter.
3. Collaboration with potential Partners: Cap-Net and Nile IWRM
5/6 READING AND ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF 4TH SC MEETING
The minutes of the 4th Steering Committee meeting that was held in Nairobi were read and adopted subject to the following corrections: The issue of knowledge management was added as one of the AGW-Net strategic vision that was discussed at the Nairobi meeting.
5/7 MATTERS ARISING
a. Course approval by Cap-Net.
The Manager reported that all the courses and activities proposed for the 2013 work plan have been approved by Cap-Net. Members expressed appreciation for the approval and promised to work hard for the success of the implementation of all activities as approved. The SC and Cap-Net have further approved the request of the SC member of North Africa Mohamed Elrawady to expand the geographical coverage of the approved courses to include North Africa , in addition to the 6 pre-approved courses. A course in Morocco is to be targeted in 2013.
b. IGRAC/Global Groundwater Monitoring Network
Based on the reported interest of IGRAC to collaborate with AGW-Net, intensive discussion on the level and modality of collaborations were tabled for comments. Most of the areas of collaboration were on the following”
1. Regional aspects of groundwater
2. Groundwater in basin organization/transboundary
3. Monitoring of groundwater especially on software issue of the groundwater network
At the end of the discussions, it was agreed that a course on the IGRAC software will be beneficial to the Global Groundwater Monitoring Initiative and that AGW-Net follow up on this suggestion. The following SC members were to follow up discussions with IGRAC. It was agreed that Dr. Richard Owen will initiate the communications between IGRAC and Mohamed under the supervision of Prof. Tamiru Abiye (Mohamed, Richard & Tamiru)
c. UNECA/Africa Climate Centre/Climate Change
It was reported that Prof. Nkhuwa had a discussion with Dr Johnson Ogontula in Lusaka and it was noted that water programme was suspended last year because they wanted to revise their operations so that water is included as a mainstream activity. The following SC members were to link up with Mr. Johnson Ogontula in Lusaka for update (Callist, Tenalem & Daniel).
d. Discussions during the Consultative meeting on Groundwater management in L/RBOs at Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.
The Manager reported that during the Consultative meeting with BOs from the 12th to 14th February, 2013 in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, he had discussions with the following organisations and persons on issues that will move the AGW-Net forward and have good visibility. They are as follows:
1. Representatives from L/R and Aquifer organizations
2. AMCOW Groundwater focal Person, Mr. Charles Ngangoué
3. ANBO (African Network of Basin Organisation) Director, Mr. Reginald Tekateka
4. BGR representatives (Vanessa Vaessen, Willi Strukmeier, Ramon), Albert Tuinoff and Stephen Foster, IGRAC (Geert-Jan Nijsten)
5. IWMI (Karen Villholth)
The main outcome of the meeting
The meeting agreed on the implementation of the groundwater management for BOs training course in Africa. They all accepted that for the realization of this task, there is need to bring AGW-Net on board. They also expressed positive feelings on the positive impact of AGW-Net on the forefront role and the understanding of groundwater as some of the direct impacts of collaborating with AGW-Net.
Summary outcomes of the separate meetings with the following organization are as follows:
AMCO/ANBO
AMCOW and ANBO expressed interest to be a very good partner with AGW-Net. Details are expected to be communicated after formally submitting AGW-Net profile to these organizations. Participants also recommended different training topics that can be grouped into: Policy briefs, basic course, case studies and field work activities.
Comments
A draft of the AGW-Net profile was presented and modified by SC members especially on areas that suggest deliberate comparing of functions with other AGWC and NEPAD Centre of Excellence for water. The Manager was requested to effect the corrections and present it accordingly to the organizations.
IAH
Dr. Willi Strukmeier, IAH ex-president has suggested that AGW-Net should be well represented in the September 2014 IAH-Africa conference in Morocco and AGW-Net should be ready to present its activities at the conference. A suggestion by Richard and Callist to hold the next SC meeting back to back with IAH conference in Morocco was approved by Cap-Net. A suggestion by Muna to plan one day trainings in the 2014 plan to be organized at the occasion of the conference for visibility.
Comments
After very extensive discussions, the SC Members agreed that preparations should start immediately to encourage many of our members to send papers for presentation that could encourage the organizers to dedicate a session to Africa AGW-Net during the conference. This will also attract sponsorship for more African participants by IAH and other sponsors of the conference.
IWMI-Southern Africa
This is a follow up on the training programme that IWMI/IFAD is putting together on trans-boundary aquifer management in the SADC region. It is expected that area of collaboration will centre on capacity building. Further discussions are expected.
MoU is expected to be developed after further discussions with AGW-Net.
Comments
Members of SC welcome such collaboration and endorsed further discussion with Dr. Karen Villholth that will result in signing an MoU with IWMI-Southern Africa and conduct joint trainings.
5/8 Website and News letter
The Website Manager, Richard presented the current status of the website and requested for comments to improve its quality and visibility. He also said the Newsletter will be uploaded on the website for information and general membership drive.
Comments
Members suggested that news items and upcoming events should be regularly updated to be well accepted as a website. Membership application forms will also be up dated for new membership drive. Copy of the membership forms will be sent to SC members for comments, downloadable from the website and hard copies to be printed for interested members without internet facilities.
Minutes of meetings and calls for elections and voting procedures of SC members will be put in the Newsletter of AGW-Net through the website. Finally, it was agreed that the AGW-Net Newsletter should be in English and French languages to take care of all members. The addition of links to other relevant sites that are useful to AGW-Net was also recommended for improvement of our website.
5/9 AGW-Net Task Team Report and Plan of Action
a. Election (Martin, Muna & Richard)
The report of Election task team was presented by Martin. After the presentation, comments were received and the following was accepted by SC members.
1. Provision for Election of AGW-Net Executive Committee
The rules of the establishment of AGW-Net recommend that election should be held every four (4) years for the following positions.
a. AGW-Net Manager
b. Steering Committee members to be 10, including the network Manager and the immediate past AGW-Net Manager. Steering committee should include at least 1 member from West Africa Francophone; 1 from West Africa Anglophone; 2 from North Africa East Africa; 2 from Central Africa and 2 and from Southern Africa.
c. AGW-Net Manager will be appointed from the 10 Steering Committee members.
d. Members who will closely collaborate with and assist the network will be identified as “ex-officio members” due to the limitation in the regional representation.
2. Method of Election
a. Conditions and methods of voting.
By October of election year, every registered member of AGW-Net can vote and be voted for provided he or she has been registered. Every AGW-Net member can stand for Steering Committee membership.
b. Nomination process
To stand for election, a member needs to be nominated by two existing members, and needs to submit an election manifesto outlining his / her plans to develop the network, track record in the network etc. for publication to the voting members.
All properly nominated candidates shall be placed on the ballot together with a link to their manifesto.
An online voting system such as www.simplyvoting.com will be used for the elections.
After voting has closed, the Steering Committee shall be elected, provided that the regional representation as indicated above is fulfilled as a priority.
c. Voting procedure
Voting shall be by electronic voting after collating the list of interested members that are contesting in the election into the Steering Committee. This shall be decided by the existing steering Committee of AGW-Net coordinated by the AGW-Net Manager.
http://www.simplyvoting.com/
d. Election by simple majority
Compilation of votes shall be by simple majority votes cast electronically provided the regional representation requirements are met first. Compilation shall be carried out by the AGW-Net Manager.
e. Maximum period as a Steering Committee Member
The maximum term of office as a steering Committee member shall be 2 terms of 4 years. After a break, a candidate may wish to be nominated as a Steering Committee member for a fresh term of 4 years.
3. Commencement of Steering Committee in Office
In line with the financial year of our major sponsor, CAP-Net, a new Management of AGW-Net shall start on the 1st of January of the year immediately following the year in which the election was held.
b. Fund raising (Tamiru, Martin & Callist)
The report was presented by Tamiru. He stated that the success for raising funds lies on our external relation strategy which is based on cooperation with interested parties. I this regards, AGW-Net have good partnership relation with CAP-Net, Water Net, Nile IWRM Net, ISWD, GR, BGN/IAH, GWMATE and RWSN. At the moment, we have MoU with some of these Partners. Other Partners such as IGRAC, UNEP and UNECA have been contacted and discussions are in progress. They also remarked that the most interesting relation is being established with the Water research Commission (WRC) of South Africa as a new host to AGW-Net. In order to raise financial and material support, efforts will be made to strengthen AGW-Net relation with our capacity building partners and solicit a way to get more support in the future. In summary, the following sources and percentages were agreed on.
1. After MoU is signed with WRC, any possibility for support will be examined.
2. Since there is an interest from our partners to undertake regional projects in Africa through AGW-Net members, at least 7% of the total budget will be retained for the network activity.
3. Proceeds from short courses or training materials preparation that will be held/undertaken on behalf of AGW-Net, local organizers are required to transfer 7% of the total fund to AGW-Net.
4. Explore the possibility to get funding from our Northern partners to support short courses based on their priority and our alignment.
5. Through our Members, there is a very good opportunity to search for African companies which require tailored short courses for their employers. This will generate some funds for AGW-Net.
6. Seeking funding from other private sectors of the economy in Africa and other parts of the world.
c. Course material development (Daniel, Tenalem, Mohamed & Moustapha)
No report presented.
However, the committee was requested to identify core challenges of the continent and identify areas that needs course note development.
d. Advocacy (Richard, Mohamed & Muna)
Richard presented the report. He informed the meeting that AGW-Net have A 5 page and 2 page advertising flyers. He suggested that these two publications should be up dated and printed for members to carry along to meetings, conferences and workshops whenever the opportunity arises for dissemination at such meetings. A total of 53 new Members were registered for this year.