The Lake Victoria Initiative

1. The Lake Victoria Initiative • Initiated in 1999. • A time frame of 20 years is envisaged. • Objective: to contribute to poverty reduction within a framework of sustainable development • a regional Approach • Strategic Partnership agreement signed in 2001 twn EAC, Sweden, France, Norway, WB,EADB.

2. Lake Victoria Strategy - the areas of intervention • Capacity development for sustainable development • Empowerment of Communities & individuals • Sound environment and sustainable use of natural resources • Combating HIV/AIDS • Private sector development for economic growth Special emphasis to be given to multidimensional programs and projects - promote the three dimensions of sustainable development

3. Capacity development for sustainable development • Support to organisations within the EAC structure • Support to regional co-operation • Support to civil society organisations • Support to local authorities • Knowledge development of the links between poverty reduction and sustainable development

4. Capacity building strategies • Technical assistance Mainly for project management expertise. short term and not build dependence. • Use of local/regional consultants to beef up slim staffing • Tailored courses. Courses tailored to suit the local environment with participants working on local case studies. • Research responding to local needs and problems encourage partnering across countries and across disciplines.

5. Capacity building strategies Exchange of experiences/sharing of best practices thru • Partnerships (north-south) - Swedish NGOs partnering with east African NGOs. mixed results. • Study tours, between organizations with similar mandates. Visits always based on ToR that identify the possible learning areas, which experiences are relevant. Good results. • Regional networks and collaboration between different bodies positive peer pressure, also serves to ensure non duplication of interventions.

6. Experiences • institutional set up and institution building important. No parallel structures • Human resource development concurrent with institutional development. • Should respond to need (enable individuals to perform their jobs better) and be based on a capacity needs analysis/plan.

7. Experiences • importance of clear definition the capacity building objectives- insufficient definition and preparations result in ambiguous results • Ownership - both the processes and products must be owned – No donor labels

8. Challenges • The understanding of partnership vis-a-vis the donor-recipient relations. • Long chain of channeling the support • High/distorted expectations of the partners when you talk about capacity building. • How to balance institutional strengthening, capacity building and direct activities as appropriate.

9. Maximising benefits • Critical is to address the underlying causes of poverty such as poor governance, unsupportive policies and lack of participation. • Institutional achorage • Involvement + enhanced collaboration (CSOs, Govt, PS) • Decision making at lowest appropriate level

10. Thank you