Early November the agreement for collaboration was signed between the Netherlands and Eswatini to continue Blue Deal into Phase 2.
In Eswatini it was Ms. Hemmers, member of the executive board of Dutch water authority Vechtstromen, and Ms. Dlamini, Principle Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources & Energy, who placed their signatures on the document. “Collaboration in Eswatini starts with a smile and a good start is half the job, as we say in the Netherlands”, according to Ms Hemmers.
Blue Deal makes the wheel stronger
It is due to climate change that both countries have to deal with more and more similar problems such as drought, heavy rains, heatwaves and floods. Ms Hemmers: “Thanks to the Blue Deal we don’t have to reinvent the wheel over and over again. Instead, we are enabling each other and we are making the wheel stronger. We do this by learning from each other and creating new solutions together.”
5 catchment areas, 1 operational organisation
The Blue Deal project in Eswatini assists in the decentralisation of water resource management from the Ministry to the local water authorities. Eswatini has 5 river basins that each have their own boards. These 5 boards have decided to combine the work in one operational organisation for more efficiency and better effective execution of operations. This is the Joint River Basin Authorities Project Board and the direct partner of the Blue Deal cooperation.