During a meeting held in Djibouti from 13 to 15 April 1997, the IGAD directors of Meteorological and Hydrological Services requested WMO to prepare a project document for the IGAD Hydrological Cycle Observing System (IGAD-HYCOS).
As a first step, WMO prepared a draft project profile which was submitted to the IGAD Secretariat. The IGAD Secretariat sought the assistance of the EU to fund the preparation of the IGAD-HYCOS project document.
The project document, prepared with inputs from national experts and the IGAD Secretariat, was reviewed and endorsed during the seventh annual meeting of the IGAD directors of Meteorology, Hydrological and Early Warning Systems (Nairobi, Kenya, 27-28.1.2000) and subsequently submitted to the European Commission.
Further extensive consultations with the IGAD countries were held in 1999. A first project proposal was prepared with support from the European Commission.
A detailed project document for IGAD HYCOS was subsequently prepared by a consultant based on information collected during his visits to the region in May-June 2003. The document was discussed and reviewed during a planning workshop in July 2003 in Kenya.
The workshop finalized the logical framework of the project and proposed the location of the project’s regional centre.
The project document was presented to potential donors during the Pan African Conference on Water (Addis Ababa, December 2003) and was subsequently submitted to the IGAD Inter-regional Coordinating Committee for consideration for funding under 9th EDF, and.
The EU expressed interest in supporting the implementation phase and negotiations were made for securing funding (€ 4,880,000) under EC Standard Contribution Agreement (SCA).
On the recommendation of EU Regional Office the proposal envisages WMO as the executing agency for the project.
The proposal was submitted to the EU Addis Ababa Regional office and extensive discussions were carried out with them in June 2005.
In June 2006, WMO assisted the IGAD Secretariat to prepare a project proposal which was submitted to the European Commission’s ACP-EU Water Facility for consideration under the 9th European Development Fund, but funding was not secured. WMO is still assisting IGAD to secure funds for the project implementation.
The project will provide the participating six countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda) with an information system, a tool for regional integrated water resources assessment, monitoring and management. It will reinforce the regional infrastructure for data collection, transmission, archiving and retrieval.
It will also enhance the skills of the NHS’s personnel in various technical fields related to the project.