The objective of the GIZ Transborder Water Management in the Congo Basin is to establish joint principles and strategies by which riparian countries manage the Congo Basin. To this end, cooperation is to be improved first in the fields of domestic shipping and water resource management. Transborder management of the Congo river basin requires intensive exchange between the CICOS and the national institutions of the member countries. It is here that the project begins by bringing together national actors in working groups, round tables, workshops and joint training sessions.

Through organisation and moderation of coordinating and decision-making processes, national actors become involved and take on individual personal responsibility for carrying out joint measures. Intensive interaction strengthens vertical and horizontal networking and creates trust through personal contact. In this way, the project assumes a neutral intermediary role and supports the coordination of implementation strategies and the formulation of action plans for promoting shipping. Based on existing agreements, CICOS committees will be advised on drawing up a strategy for water resource management. Professional advising will put CICOS in a position to make information related to river basin management available in a databank. Institutions of the riparian countries will have access to this data and take an active part in updating it and in knowledge management. Further project outputs include advising riparian countries on incorporating international treaties into their national law and on targeted public relations work to raise popular awareness.