[Addis Ababa, August 11, 2026] – The Water and Land Resource Centre (WLRC) officially handed over 14 guidelines, manuals and directives to the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE) during a ceremony held on 11th Aug, 2026 at Capital Hotel.
The documents, which cover key thematic areas of Ethiopia’s water sector, were jointly developed by WLRC and the Ministry of Water and Energy and Basin Administration offices from the five Basins over the past one and a half years. The Guidelines and directives were produced as part of the deliverables under the Institutional capacity strengthening Work Package of the BRIGHT Project – a flagship project co-funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and the European Union and jointly implemented by WLRC and MoWE together with partners and stakeholders.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, H.E. Dr.-Ing. Habtamu Itefa, Minister of Water and Energy; H.E. Ms Paula Schindeler Deputy Head of Mission and Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ethiopia and Dr. Gete Zeleke, WLRC Director general, expressed that the Guidelines and directives fill critical gaps that had withheld progress of the Ethiopian water resources management for years. All of them commended, and committed to continue, the productive partnerships among the Ministry, EKN and WLRC, which made the preparation of the institutional documents and implementation of a number of strategic IWRM actions possible under the BRIGHT project. Further dissemination, publicity, translation in local languages, and implementation of the manuals were emphasised as future directions. A big national level dissemination was suggested to be held before Mid-September 2026.
The Handing over ceremony was attended by senior officials including H.E. Dr.-Ing. Sultan Wele, State Minister of Water and Energy; Lead Executive Officers at the Ministry, and heads and and specialists of many partner organisations, and the WLRC thematic leads and technical staff.
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