Preparations for the 2nd Annual International Forum on the Development of the Lake Chad Region kicked off…
La Résidence Hotel in Ndjamena, Chad, played host from 28 to 30 September 2022 to the 5th Meeting of the Lake Chad Research Group (LCRG). This in-person Meeting had as its main objective to agree on modalities for organising the Second International Forum on the Development of the Lake Chad in early 2023 in Niamey, Niger, and review progress made in developing the Regional Knowledge Management Platform (KMP), hosted at the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC). Specifically, the Meeting aimed to discuss scholarships awarded to students from universities in the Lake Chad Basin under the Lake Chad Region Recovery and Development Project (PROLAC) and share the field experiences of different national components of this regional program.
Thus, some thirty participants from universities in the Basin, PROLAC’s national coordinations, beneficiary groups, and LCBC had three days to go through every point on the agenda.
Prior to declaring this Meeting open, His Excellency, Ambassador Mamman NUHU, Executive Secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, made mention of the crises plaguing the Basin, the outcome of which is the rise of the Boko Haram terrorist group, which in turn triggered a plethora of security, humanitarian and developmental responses from LCBC member states and its partners through the Regional Strategy for Stabilisation, Recovery, and Resilience of Boko-Haram affected-Areas of the Lake Chad Region (RSS).
Ambassador Mamman NUHU used this opportunity to recall that PROLAC, funded by the World Bank, is in line with implementing this Regional Strategy.
In other words, by contributing to building resilience and improving livelihoods in the Lake Chad region, through sustainable rural mobility and interconnectivity, resuming income-generating agricultural activities, empowering communities through civic engagement, social cohesion, and labour-intensive public works, rehabilitating rural roads and small-scale transport infrastructure and productive investments, sharing knowledge and ensuring regional dialogue through a data platform hosted by the LCBC, etc., PROLAC is, in essence, achieving 6 of the 9 Pillars and Strategic Objectives contained in the Regional Strategy for Stabilisation.
It is worth underscoring that the Lake Chad Research Group (LCRG), created under PROLAC, aims to synergise the sub-components of the program through the following three categories of activities: Information, Knowledge Production, and Dialogue. The Group monitors the implementation of PROLAC at the regional level, guides, advises, supports knowledge production and learning, and fosters regional dialogue among LCBC member countries and the Project’s national implementation units.
