29 May 2017

Inadequate funding has been identified as one of the challenges that affects the implementation of the planned activities under the Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP).

This was revealed during the Okavango Wetlands Management Committee meeting, where the committee was reviewing the 2016/17 consolidated annual plan of activities and see how far it has done in terms of implementation.

The ODMP is a ground-breaking effort to integrate government planning of all natural resources of the Okavango Delta region.

The main objective of the committee is to implement action plan of ODMP and it has set thematic areas to base their work on.

The committee also developed a new plan for this financial year although it learnt that there was no specific budget for the implementation of the ODMP, hence the delay in carrying out some planned activities.

As such, the members underscored the need to identify sources of funding to augment the meagre funds in place.

They agreed that there was need to enhance partnerships with potential funders to augment available funds and facilitate smooth implementation of the plan.

The house agreed that all stakeholders should identify activities that needed funding and submit for consolidation so that the committee could make a joint proposal for donor funding.

Some members indicated that some departments and organisations had the mandate to carry out some activities, which fed to the plan, but were hindered by financial constraints.

Since the committee comprised of clusters, it was also agreed that after the launch and capacitation of cluster members, the clusters could come up with income-generating activities to reduce dependency on government.

Presenting the progress report of the previous plan, the committee secretary, Mr Jobe Manga reported that some activities had been achieved, citing events such as conducting dialogues on specific issues and road shows, which were meant to promote public awareness of ODMP.

He explained that they had partnered with UNDP to conduct dialogues where they identify area-specific issues for discussion.

Mr Manga said currently two dialogues had been undertaken by Sustainable Land Management Project (SLM) in Maun and Shorobe.

The next one is schedule for Kareng.

The project is funded by UNDP.

The house also learnt that the implementation of fire management strategy was ongoing and that the Department of Forestry and Range Resources secured fire fighting, among other activities. ENDS