Nile Basin Initiative - Institutional Framework

Institutional Framework

The NBI institutional framework consists of three key institutions:

• The Nile Council of Ministers of Water Affairs provides policy guidance and makes decisions. Its Chairpersonship is on a rotational one-year basis. The host of the regular council meetings is traditionally elected as the Chair for the forthcoming year. Since June 2010 the chair is Asfaw Dingamo, Ethiopia’s Minister of Water Resources, elected at the 18th regular meeting in Addis Ababa in June 2010. He was preceded by Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Nasr el Din Allam (2009–10), elected at the 17th regular meeting in Alexandria in July 2009, as well as Jose Endundu, Minister Of Environment of the Democratic Republic of Congo (2008–09) and Minister Of Water and Environment of Uganda, Maria Mutagamba (2007–2008). The council holds regular annual meetings as well as extradordinary meetings. Extraordinary meetings were held in May 2009 in Kinshasa and in April 2010 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
• The NBI Technical Advisory Committee, established in 1998. It is made up of senior civil servants and provides technical advice and assistance to the Council of Ministers. The committee is made up of one representative from each riparian country and one alternate. It meets two to three times a year.
• The NBI Secretariat, established in 1999 provides administrative support to the Council of Ministers and the Technical Advisory Committee. It is based in Entebbe, Uganda, headed by an Executive Director. The position is on a rotational basis for a 2 year term. The current Executive Director, Teferra Beyene Asfaw from Ethiopia, assumed office in September 2012.

Two subsidiary programs are managed by the Eastern Nile Regional Technical Office (ENTRO), which is based in Addis Ababa, and the NELSAP Coordinating Unit (NELSAP-CU), which is based in Kigali, Rwanda. In addition, various projects under the Share Vision Program have regional project management units located in Cairo (applied training), Addis Ababa (water resources planning), Dar es-Salaam (power trade) and Nairobi (agriculture).