Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the largest tropical lake in the world. Approximately 30 million people benefit from it, directly or indirectly. It stretches about 69,000 square kilometres across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Lake Victoria Regional Local Authorities Cooperation (LVRLAC), is a network organisation of local authorities formed in 1997 to preserve this precious shared resource, including through tackling a serious water hyacinth invasion and exotic fish species, and promoting the wellbeing of the many communities dependent on the lake for food and income. The lake’s water levels are said to be declining from decreases in rainfall, land degradation and hydroelectric generation. Climate change may worsen this drying and higher temperatures could affect the productivity of fisheries – a serious concern for the many people dependent on the lake.

This CDKN Innovation Fund project aimed to devise a road map for climate change mainstreaming into local authorities development strategies and plans using a collaborative innovation process. The project incorporates an inclusive and participatory process involving multiple and diverse stakeholders. The first level of stakeholders has been drawn from the LVRLAC network and includes local authorities. The second level of stakeholders has been drawn from local universities, civil society, private sector, and the media.

The initial part of the roadmap consisted of national consultations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in March 2012 to identify the most critical climate change issues in each country, current work on mainstreaming within Lake Victoria local authorities, and the knowledge gaps and critical stakeholders for mainstreaming into local planning mechanisms. Open Space Technology was used during the innovation process, which facilitated interactive discussion. From this, a research proposal was developed to secure further support from CDKN and external sources.

This project aimed to:

• Identify priority knowledge gaps and linked research themes for enabling climate change mainstreaming in Lake Victoria Local Authorities development planning, resulting in a demand-driven research proposal in order to fundraise support both from CDKN and externally.
• Map critical stakeholders for mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation in local development planning. This resulted in critical stakeholder analysis for climate change mainstreaming process and governance.
• Design multi-stakeholder partnership necessary for inclusive local authority climate change mainstreaming and governance. This resulted in innovative partnerships for delivering this innovation process and consequent multi-stakeholder partnership design for climate change mainstreaming and governance.
• Design an appropriate regional virtual platform for climate change mainstreaming knowledge management and sharing for Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities. This resulted in a virtual interactive platform for sharing climate change mainstreaming information and best practices.

The outputs of this project include:

• Three national  workshops (Mwanza, Tanzania; Kisumu, Kenya; Jinja, Uganda)
• One regional/secretariat workshop (Entebbe, Uganda) Stakeholder analysis for climate change mainstreaming process and governance
• Research project proposal ready for implementation
• Regional virtual platform for climate change mainstreaming knowledge management and sharing for Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities
• A policy brief on mainstreaming climate change status in Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities development strategies and plans to catalyse action
• Multi-partnership design for climate change mainstreaming and governance

Lead: Wilber Bateisibwa (Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation)

Project Partners: George Mark Onyango (Maseno University); Sarah Merritt Polk (University of Gothenburg).

CDKN Funding: £85,000

Image: Lake Victoria, courtesy of Michell Zappa