The three countries that form OKACOM are Namibia, Botswana and Angola. The Okavango River originates from the highlands of Angola, runs through a tiny strip in Namibia and ends in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana where it establishes itself into the Okavango Delta. The SAREP programme which USAID funds to the tune of US$23 million over a period of five years will identify gaps from where the previous programme, IRBM (Integrated River Basin Management) left. IRBM which was also funded by USAID "looked mainly into the setting up of the OKACOM Secretariat which is based in Maun", says SAREP Chief of Party, Steve Johnson.
The IRBM project also did the trans-boundary diagnostic analysis (TDA) in the three countries which was a needs analysis for the communities around the river in the three countries, Johnson said. "It should be noted that there are a lot of changes since the IRBM and now it's time for SAREP, the idea is to capture those changes into the design of our programmes, this is the essence of this inception workshop which is meant to explore ideas with the stakeholders," said Johnson in Gaborone last week.
