The document discusses the Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC) which aims to improve rainwater management systems in the Ethiopian highlands. It notes the significant potential of the Blue Nile Basin but current underutilization due to lack of knowledge, technologies, and complex transboundary issues. The NBDC will focus on increasing rainwater productivity through innovations, addressing poverty and degradation, and building institutional capacity. It will involve partnerships across different organizations and scales to identify best practices, target interventions, and ensure research is linked to development goals.

1. Nile Basin Development Challenge: Rainwater Management Systems Tilahun Amede, CPWF Nile Basin Coordinator Nile Basin Development Challenge Launch Workshop, Addis Ababa, 29 September 2010

2. The Blue Nile Basin

6. Rain Water Management Options

7. Baskets of Interventions for Rainwater Management SWC WH Pond Micro dam Diversion Pits Hand dug wells

8. Blue Nile basin harbors considerable untapped potential for irrigation but inefficient schemes.

11. Soil Erosion and land degradation costing the country about USD 7 billion in the last 10 years; ‘Took away history & pride’. (Yihenew etal, 2008) Treatments OM (%) Control (no conservation) 1.5 6-yrs soil bund + lucerne 2.4 9-yrs soil bund + lucerne 5.0 9-yrs soil bund + vetiver 3.3 9-yrs soil bund 5.5 CV (%) 12.8 SE X 0.23 Nitrogen (%) 0.12 0.17 0.28 0.22 0.28 14.17 0.03 Grain Kg/ha 561.3 1284.3 1878.7 1187.5 1712.5 8.1 53.89

13. Micro dose Zai

14. February 2004 October 2005 19 May 2003 October 2005 Photo: Gete Zeleke

16. Large number of institutions (government, NGOs, CGIAR centres, bilateral and multilateral donor) working on NRM in the basin; institutional mandates than aligning bigger national agenda.

22. Nile 2 . RMS for Landscape scale (Technologies, policies and institutions; innovations)

26. Linkages Sub-regional Landscape Farm level Impact Learning Communication Nile 5. Coordination, platforms Nile 4. Consequences, impact, tradeoffs Nile 2. Innovations, technologies , practices Nile 3. Mapping, targeting. Up-scaling Nile 1. Inventory and synthesis Linkages Linkages

27. Rainwater management is a function of interaction across scales Level 3… … ……National/regional scales Creating linkages, capacity building, facilitating learning, up scaling good practices, communication, sharing evidence for policy, cross-boundary linkages Level 2… … …… Landscape scales Integrating landscape components, minimizing land and water degradation, capacitating local actors, identifying niches and integrating good practices Level 1… … …… Field plots Producing evidence, quantifying effects, characterizing impact and facilitating learning part-of part-of Objects

37. Well come to NBDC!