The African Water Facility (AWF) organized a workshop from 10-14 August for Project Managers on the Operational Procedures for Projects Implementation. The workshop took place at Hotel Africa in Tunis (Tunisia). Nearly 30 experts from 13 French-speaking countries as well as six river basin organizations and regional institutions participated in the workshop.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Principal Water Resources Management Officer Jean Michel Ossete. During his opening speech, Mr. Ossete thanked the participants for taking the time to come and also for their continued partnership with the African Water Facility. He underscored the significant progress made in the area of project implementation at the AWF since the first workshop in 2008. The workshop focuses on the following key issues:

An Overview of the AWF (its mission, objectives and modalities of intervention),

A presentation on Principles, Rules and Procedures on procurement of goods, contracts and services, financial management of projects, audit and funds disbursements,

Presentation of the Quarterly Progress Report template and Project Completion Report, and

Presentation of Projects Execution Status. Mr. Ossete also emphasized the importance of the workshop in preparing for the external evaluation of the effectiveness of the AWF scheduled for September 2009. He urged the participants to seize the opportunity to strengthen the exchange of experiences.

The participants were keen to acquaint themselves with Bank and AWF rules and procedures; improve their knowledge and skills in the water sector; share experiences and draw lessons from each other; and strengthen knowledge in the management of AWF projects.

In addition to the training, the participants also contributed to the workshop by making diverse presentations on Project Completion Reports (Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic, Saharan Observatory, etc.), and on Project Execution Status (African Network of Basin Organizations, International Community of Congo-Ubangi Basin, Tchad, Mauritania, Cameroun, Ouagadougou City, Lake Tchad Basin Commission, Djibouti, Niger-HYCOS, Integrated Water Resources Management-Senegal, Sanitation-Ziguichor, Strengthening Capacities in Burkina Faso, etc.).

The training ended with the preparation of recommendations based on lessons drawn from the discussions. The recommendations will serve as a means of finding solutions to the weaknesses indentified in project implementation.