[WLRC, Arba Minch, October 9, 2025] The Water and Land Resource Centre (WLRC) Basin Management Support for Resilient, Inclusive Growth and Harmonized Transformation (BRIGHT) Project, conducted a community consultation and mobilization session on October 9, 2025, at Chano Mille Kebele in Arba Minch Zuriya Woreda.
The consultations, held within the Hare Catchment of the Rift Valley Lakes Basin, focused on strengthening collaboration between local communities and the BRIGHT Project team, as well as establishing Ketena Community Rehabilitation Committees (KCRCs) in the project’s quick-win intervention areas. The KCRCs are community-led structures designed to facilitate and manage local engagement in land and water rehabilitation activities. These committees serve as vital links between the community and the project, ensuring that local people take ownership of the project’s objectives and play a leading role in planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Speaking during the event, Dr. Yilkal Anteneh, Director of the WLRC Land and Ecosystem Division, highlighted the importance of establishing the KCRCs as a key step toward sustainable and locally driven resource management. “The formation of these committees ensures that community leadership is embedded within the project’s implementation framework,” said Dr. Yilkal. “Through capacity development and joint decision-making, we want communities not only to participate but to lead and sustain the outcomes beyond the project’s lifetime.”
During the discussions, community members identified pressing flood-related challenges caused by three upstream rivers that regularly overflow, damaging irrigation infrastructure and farmlands. Participants stressed the need for coordinated interventions to protect livelihoods and enhance agricultural productivity. Community representatives also raised concerns about the effectiveness of past projects in the area, noting that many had not been completed or sustained. They expressed hope that the BRIGHT Project’s approach, anchored in community ownership and practical action, would ensure long-term impact.
Experts from the Gamo Zone Agriculture Office, kebele-level development agents, and other local stakeholders emphasized that genuine community participation is crucial for success. “The community must see this project as their own,” said one expert. “Only then can the benefits continue for generations, even after the project ends.”
Participants across the three ketenas of Chano Mille Kebele actively engaged in the formation of the KCRCs and pledged to contribute labor, local knowledge, and oversight to support the project’s quick-win interventions.
The BRIGHT Project, implemented by WLRC, supports Ethiopia’s National Integrated Water Resources Management Plan (IWRMP) by promoting sustainable land and water resource management, resilient livelihoods, and inclusive development across Abbay, Awash, Rift Valley Lakes, Omo-Ghibe, and Tekeze basins.