CWP-Benin started the Okpara pilot action by organising training sessions on IWRM for central and local government officials to raise awareness of the authorities on the need for appropriate and concrete responses to local water-related issues. The action also focused on the continued mobilisation of the Directorate General for Water (DGEau) and the municipalities to support the initiative. The intervention included, in June 2010, a participatory diagnosis of the management of the dam and its catchment area.
Following validation by the stakeholders the «Pilot Action to support the concerted and integrated management of the Okpara dam» project was officially launched. The stakeholders at that time had elaborated, under the facilitation of CWP-Benin, a strategic operational framework for the implementation of pilot actions for the application of IWRM at the local level, with a view to reinforcing the national process underway. It was a participatory strategic approach to inform the design and implementation processes of pilot actions at the communal and intercommunal levels, with the commune or an inter-communal structure as the sponsor.
Concerning the Okpara dam, the project management of the rehabilitation works was ensured from 2011 to 2012 by the Territoire de Développement de l’Ouémé Supérieur (TDOS46 - Upper Ouémé Development Territory), with the financial support of the PPEA. A partnership agreement between TDOS and CWP-Benin allowed for the provision of technical assistance. The Local Water Partnership (PLE) of Borgou acted as delegated project manager. In particular, the action enabled the successful implementation of resource protection measures and the operationalisation of a consultation framework on the integrated management of the dam and associated ecosystems. Capacity building for concerted management of stakeholders and the participatory development and management plan for the livestock transit corridor at the sub-basin level continued during the 2nd phase of the PPEA (2013-2015).
The roles of the key actors were aligned with the texts on decentralisation: the DGEau became responsible for the coordination of IWRM, the SONEB became the user and manager of the dam as well as of the Okpara farm, property of the Ministry of Agriculture where the dam is located. The management of the Okpara Farm was responsible for authorising all works and activities of its domain, notably the marking out and operation of the livestock transit corridor bypassing the dam basin. This corridor, 14 km long, benefited from a development plan that included works and accompanying measures for the benefit of the identified occupants, particularly women’s groups. The areas adjacent to the dam have been reforested over approximately 29ha with species such as khaya, roan, and moringa, selected in consultation with the stakeholders.
Regarding the improvement of water resource governance, the action plan validated by the stakeholders included the operationalisation of a local water management and consultation body. The PLE-Borgou then carried out an identification of the actors involved in the initiative and the capacity building and equipment needs of the groups identified. The Council of Actors for the Concerted Management of Water Resources of the Okpara Dam (CAGC) was set up in May 2012. It brings together state actors (SONEB, decentralised state services), decentralised communities, civil society actors and different groups of users of the dam and sub-basin resources. The CAGC has the mission of monitoring and coordinating all the interventions at the level of the dam and to a lesser extent in the sub-basin it drains, monitoring the evolution of the state of the dam, informing the actors\stakeholders of the conditions of its operation and management, and working towards the protection of the dam, spillway, intake structure, etc. This marked the first creation of such a body in Benin.
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