The Project will assist the Orange-Senqu riparian states to 1) identify the principal threats and root causes of the trans-boundary water resources of the Orange-Senqu River Transboundary Basin and 2) develop and implement a sustainable programme of policy, legal and institutional reforms and investments to address these threats.  Competing water uses in the context of dwindling and uncertain future supplies is seen as the critical issue in the basin and will be a principal focus of project attention from the very outset.  The Project will create synergies with and build upon a range of initiatives being undertaken by the countries themselves and those of bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors that have given priority to the Basin. 

The long-term development/environmental goal of the project is the sustainable development of the Orange-Senqu River Basin enhanced through ecosystem-based, Integrated Water Resource Management approaches.  The project objective is to improve the management of the Orange-Senqu River Transboundary Basin through the implementation of a sustainable programme of policy, legal and institutional reforms and investment options using the Trans-boundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and Strategic Action Programme (SAP) process.  In order to achieve this objective, the project will strengthen the capacity of ORASECOM, update the TDA, formulate a SAP and associated National Action Programmes (NAPs) as part of a wider regional IWRM plan, undertake a range of public involvement and awareness activities focusing on trans-boundary activities, and undertake demonstration projects that implement key aspects of the SAP.