Senegal River Basin Moving from highly centralized governance to
more democratic decision making was the goal of WANI’s work in
partnership with the Organization for the Development of the
Senegal River Basin (OMVS). A severe drought had forced riparian
nations to work together, but they had failed to engage civil
society. WANI facilitated dialogues in the riparian countries
resulting in a “terms of engagement” document, which laid out a
shared understanding of all parties’ responsibilities and
expectations. The Senegal River is the second longest in West
Africa with 2 million people living along its banks and many
relying on it for their livelihoods. The Sahelian drought of the
1970s brought the governments of Mali, Senegal and Mauritania
together to create the OMVS and to construct two major dams for
irrigated agriculture, hydroelectric power and river navigation.
The mechanisms and infrastructure put in place to manage the
Senegal River reflected government priorities, with little
engagement of civil socie