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In June 1998, a regional rainwater harvesting workshop organized by the Regional
Land Management Unit (RELMA) and held in Machakos, Kenya, conceived the idea
of setting up a Southern and Eastern Africa rainwater harvesting network, to
be called SearNet. At the time, delegates were drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A series of annual meetings then followed to
determine the future of the network.
Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have since hosted the annual meetings
in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, respectively. At the meeting held in Livingstone,
Zambia, in December 2001 declaration of intent was signed that paved the way
for the process of registering SearNet as an international NGO.
In December 1999, RELMA, based in Nairobi, Kenya and the Centre
for Science and Environment (CSE) based in New Delhi, India, jointly made a
proposal to the Global Water Partnership (GWP) secretariat in Stockholm, Sweden,
for a project entitled "A Network for Green Water Harvesting in Eastern
and Southern Africa and South Asia". GWP approved the proposal and arranged
for funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs with co-funding
from RELMA.
The programme is based at RELMA and began operations in June 2002. So far, the
following national associations have been registered with SearNet:
- the Kenya Rainwater
Association (KRA),
- the Botswana Rainwater Harvesting and Utilization Association (BORHUA),
- the Ethiopia Rainwater Harvesting Association (ERHA),
- the Rainwater Harvesting Association of Malawi (RHAM),
- the Rainwater Harvesting Association of Rwanda (RRHA),
- the Rainwater Harvesting Association of Tanzania (RHAT),
- the Uganda Rainwater Harvesting Association (URWA),
- the Zambia Rainwater Harvesting Association (ZAHRA), and
- the Rainwater Harvesting Association of Zimbabwe (RHAZ).
Out of these, KRA, ERHA, RHAT URWA and RAAS are members of the sub-regional network
known as the Great Horn of Africa Rainwater Partnership (GHARP).
Other countries closely collaborating with SearNet are Eritrea, Mozambique, Swaziland,
Somaliland and South Africa.
SearNet continues to be an important stakeholder for Global Water Partnership
Associated Programme (GWP-AP), hereafter referred to as the Programme. Phase
II of the programme, emphasizes on implementation of rainwater harvesting activities
to be undertaken in four Best Practices Scaling Up project sites (SUPs) located
in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. Kenya will continue its lead role as
a spring board for technology development and dissemination. In addition, the
GWP-AP will collaborate with institutions such as The Millennium Village Project,
UNEP, World Vision International, and The Stockholm Environmental Institute.
There will also be immense capacity building activities in the Best Practice
SUPs, with facilitators drawn from the entire SearNet region.
There also exist competent artisans and fabricators of rainwater harvesting
infrastructure and equipment previously trained by RELMA and other key capacity
building players in the region. Their competencies will further be developed
and enriched as they get engaged in representative team work including joint
sharing of experiences. The multiplier effect of this will be a boosting of
trainee artisans, supervisors and field technicians who will be crucial in the
up- and out-scaling of best practices through lessons learnt in the pilot sites.
The use of proper equipment and attire will be encouraged. In order to highlight
and advertise their entrepreneurial skills, the list of key players at the Best
Practices SUPs will be continuously updated in the directory hosted at the SearNet
website.
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