To ensure long-term sustainability and widespread adoption of any good practice, it is crucial to move beyond individual projects and aim for mainstreaming into policy. This is also relevant for NatuReS II in its efforts to establish stewardship multi-stakeholder partnerships (SMSPs) as an instrument for consensus-building in Just Transition processes in economic zones with extreme resource use pressure. Therefore, the programme is working to incorporate the SMSP approach into regional or national guidelines for participation formats in the project countries. This creates a framework that facilitates collaborative action by government bodies, private sector, and civil society and ensures that stewardship principles are upheld across different levels of governance.
Mainstreaming stewardship through national policy in Ethiopia
One successful example is the Guideline for Protection, Rehabilitation, and Restoration of Surface Water Bodies in Ethiopia that NatuReS II has been supporting with the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE). This guideline aims to support stakeholders in the protection, refurbishment and restoration of surface water bodies in Ethiopia. It contains practical recommendations, principles and best practices in sustainable water management and ecosystem conservation. The stewardship approach is anchored as a central component. The guideline complements the national Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) framework and contributes to its overarching objectives of coordinated, equitable and sustainable use of water resources in the country.
How we got there: From local partnership implementation to anchoring at national policy level
Local Beginnings in Hawassa: The journey began in the Lake Hawassa area, where stakeholders identified severe risks stemming from the unsustainable use of natural resources like water and soil. But no single actor can tackle challenges such as pollution, erosion, water scarcity, or wetland degradation by themselves. So, in 2018, a group of stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society sectors came together to develop integrated solutions. This marked the start of the Protecting Lake Hawassa Multi-Stakeholder Stewardship Partnership.
Project Implementation and Scaling Up: From 2018 to 2022, the partnership implemented joint activities mainly at a small scale. Throughout the process, the MoWE has been actively involved in the partnership through their local representation, the Rift Valley Basin Administration Office. The success of these activities then led to increased interest and support, allowing for upscaling with funds from existing and new partners. This period (2022-2023) also saw growing attention from the national level, recognising the effectiveness of the approaches tried, tested, and jointly implemented at the local level.
National Anchoring: Since 2024, the results achieved have led to national-level interest in taking up the stewardship approach in national policies. Today, the ministry recognises that water management will only be effective based on comprehensive multi-stakeholder collaboration with strong focus also on the private sector and plans to roll out this approach at national level. Thus, MoWE has requested support for development of National Water Bodies Protection Guideline which includes stewardship and collaborative multi-stakeholder action prominently as key elements of effective basin management.
A multi-stakeholder review process
A draft of the guideline was developed jointly with MoWE and the Generation Integrated Rural Development Consultancy (GIRDC). It has then undergone a consultation phase allowing for inclusive stakeholder participation. In June 2025, NatuReS II and MoWE hosted a review workshop with over 80 participants from six federal ministries, all regional bureaus of water, environment and agriculture, nine universities and research centres from the public sector as well as representatives from the private and civil society sector.
The workshop started with opening remarks by the State Minister of Water and Energy, His Excellency Motuma Mekassa. His Excellency once again stressed the importance of collective action in the protection of natural resources and the development of the standard national guideline. Following the opening, consultants from GIRDC presented the draft guideline which participants then reviewed in three breakout groups. Afterwards, GIDRC incorporated their detailed feedback into a revised version. The final draft has now been submitted to the ministry and publication of the guideline is expected by the end of September 2025.
Lessons learned for policy anchoring processes
By anchoring stewardship principles into national policies, Ethiopia is taking a significant step towards sustainable water management and ecosystem conservation. Learning from the successful practices in Hawassa, this bottom-up approach was a key success factor. It showcased collaborative stewardship action on the ground first, which created visibility and attracted national interest by the tangible implementation results achieved. Starting with small joint activities is also critical for establishing trust between public sector, private sector and civil society which can then grow from there. Another key takeaway is the importance of the active involvement of the public sector since the beginning that created ownership and support from authorities and public decision makers – a game changer for anchoring in policy processes.
In the lakeside town of Hawassa, Ethiopia, the Ogani & Gemeto medicinal plants nursery, a member of the Protecting Lake Hawassa partnership, is flourishing following a gender training that reshaped mindsets and promoted equality. The partnership aims to reduce environmental and social risks stemming from the threats affecting Lake Hawassa and thus promoting a Just Transition.
In Ethiopia, women and marginalised groups continue to face systemic obstacles in fully participating in decision-making processes and benefitting from development interventions. Therefore, NatuReS delivered a targeted training to 34 stakeholders of the partnership in December 2024. It equipped them with the necessary knowledge and skills to integrate gender equality and social inclusion effectively into their institutions and activities.
Meet one of the participants: Mrs Rahel Sisay from Hawassa city administration and biodiversity team leader at the nursery. For years, the nursery staff was predominantly male, with little attention paid to gender diversity. Task completion was the priority, and the gender of workers seemed irrelevant. However, the training prompted Mrs Sisay and her team to reassess the contributions of their female staff.
“Since we’ve increased the number of female employees, the quality of our seedling production has significantly improved”
Mrs Sisay
What they discovered was enlightening. The women in the nursery were not only competent but proved to be the more efficient workers. This revelation led Mrs Sisay to request management to give pay rises to the women and hire more female staff. Since then, the nursery has welcomed five new female employees, bringing the total to thirteen women and five men. This shift has had a profound impact on the nursery’s operations.
The training empowered Mrs Sisay to make decisions that support women in the workplace and encouraged her to speak up for gender equality. This newfound confidence and advocacy have transformed the nursery into a more inclusive and productive environment. After all, the nursery is not just a job for the female workers – it is their livelihood. The training has helped them gain recognition and fair treatment, ensuring that their contributions are valued and rewarded.
This success story from Hawassa illustrates the importance of the gender training supported by NatuReS. Mrs Rahel Sisay’s story is a testament to how empowering women can lead to better business outcomes and create a more equitable workplace – strengthening women’s opportunities for societal participation and contributing to stronger, more resilient communities.
In Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, stakeholders are facing a similar challenge: How to manage natural resources in areas with extreme resource use pressure, such as zones with water and soil scarcity or very resource-intensive production processes? And how to do this in a collaborative and socially just manner? In such contexts, stewardship multi-stakeholder partnerships (SMSPs) are a valuable tool to advance a socio-ecological transformation, balancing environmental protection, economic development, and social equity.
To support inter-country dialogue and learning on the SMSP approach, the Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS), implemented by GIZ, recently convened partners (public, private and civil society) for a two-day practical expert exchange. The “Regional Exchange Workshop on Stewardship Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships” took place on 3-4 June 2025 in Hawassa, Ethiopia, bringing together more than 30 experts from South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia as well as from within Ethiopia. It explored how innovative approaches for sustainable natural resource management can be developed in a collective manner, with a focus on ecohydrology and other nature-based solutions for catchment restoration. Ecohydrology is an interdisciplinary approach that uses the interactions between water and ecosystems to improve water availability and water quality, restore degraded landscapes, and enhance the resilience of water systems.
Read our brochure on landscape restoration through ecohydrology at Lake Hawassa here.
Opening: Emphasising Sustainable Resource Use and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships
Opening the workshop, Mr Shiferaw Negash welcomed the partners on behalf of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and its Director General H.E. Lelise Neme. In light of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, he stressed the importance of sustainable resource use for both economic development and environmental protection and recognised GIZ’s long-standing work in Ethiopia. Mr Shiferaw specifically emphasised the need for collective tangible action through an inclusive whole-of-society approach.
He was followed by Mr Stephan Lidsba, Cluster Coordinator for the Climate Change Cluster at GIZ Ethiopia, who highlighted the value of learning from the diverse expertise present in the room – from the private sector, public institutions, and civil society. He also drew attention to how the technical issues discussed contribute to the wider strategic objectives of the respective national governments and encouraged participants to engage in constructive discussions and forge lasting partnerships.
Spotlight on the NatuReS Programme and the Protecting Lake Hawassa Partnership
Following the opening remarks, Mr James Njeru from GIZ introduced the NatuReS Programme and the Protecting Lake Hawassa Partnership (PLH). Established in 2018, PLH has brought together stakeholders to jointly address environmental, economic, and social risks affecting the sub-basin, including pollution, erosion, water scarcity, and wetland degradation. To do this, the partners from the public and private sector and civil society engage in working groups on afforestation and soil erosion control, waste management, as well as community and stakeholder engagement. Notable achievements include the construction of 1,300 km of terraces, 15 km of check dams, and the rehabilitation of 150 hectares of degraded land. Mr Njeru specifically highlighted the imperative to connect natural resources protection with livelihoods to achieve a socio-ecological transformation, as exemplified by the launch of a local honey-processing cooperative (more on this below).
Understanding the risks of natural resources degradation in Ethiopia
The challenges PLH is addressing are not unique to Hawassa. Ethiopia, known as the “water tower of Africa”, paradoxically faces significant water stress. Dr Simeneh Shiferaw from Wetlands International outlined major challenges such as limited access to safe drinking water, pollution from agriculture, industry, and domestic waste, and growing pressure from population growth and urbanisation. Governance and infrastructure gaps further exacerbate water degradation. To address this, he emphasised the need for a holistic multi-stakeholder approach prioritising stronger policies, investment, technology, community engagement, and capacity building. After all, the call for joint action is clear: Studies estimate up to 8.5% of GDP losses annually in case of continued environmental degradation, including water issues, posing a significant threat to Ethiopia’s economic development.
Showcasing success stories in ecohydrology
Despite these challenges, there are also successful examples of how ecohydrological approaches can be part of the solution for Ethiopia:
Dr Mulugeta Dadi from Hawassa University started the session by presenting the technical aspects of terrestrial ecohydrology and highlighting its role in supporting ecosystem services and promoting community stewardship. Using examples from farmlands, hillsides, and gullies around Hawassa, he emphasised that the interventions can never just be technical and must always consider socio-ecological factors to be successful. Communities seeing and feeling the benefits is key to gain farmers’ support and achieve long-term stewardship. Dr Mulugeta’s presentation featured before-and-after images of ecohydrological interventions, displaying the clear impact of ecohydrological measures.
Mr Wondwosane Abeje from the Ministry of Water and Energy shared a video documentary on ecohydrology efforts for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) made in Ethiopia. It showcased six sites established by the Ministry tackling issues like water pollution, invasive species, flood control, soil restoration, landslide prevention, and coffee waste treatment. Three of these sites are now also recognised as UNESCO ecohydrology demonstration sites. Key success factors include community ownership, system integration, and ongoing monitoring, while challenges remain in remote access, short rainy seasons, and limited funding.
A third case study was presented by Dr Assefa Tessema from Wollo University who shared insights on the sustainable management of Lake Hayik. The lake’s ecosystem faces challenges such as overfishing, pollution, solid waste, eutrophication, siltation and extreme flow variations. To reduce degradation and enhance ecosystem services, the restoration project implemented three types of ecohydrology: terrestrial, urban, and aquatic. Dr Tessema highlighted the key achievements as gully rehabilitation, slope and riverbank stabilisation. Further, Lake Hayik’s registration as a UNESCO ecohydrology demonstration site in October 2024 marked a significant milestone.
Scaling up ecohydrology
After these project examples, Mr Debebe Deferso and Mr Yirgalem Esuneh from the Ministry of Water concluded the presentations with an outlook on scaling up ecohydrology in Ethiopia. As next steps they outlined plans to establish a national technical team to scale up measures to the national level, evaluate the performance of demonstration sites, renew the Africa Center of Ecology in Addis Ababa, facilitate a national IWRM programme, strengthen basin planforms, shift from demonstration sites to implementation units at watershed/basin level and link ecohydrology with green legacy initiatives. The Ministry also wants to engage further in best practice and knowledge transfer. This includes plans to upgrade ecohydrology sites and register with UNESCO for the international learning sites capacity development programme. And secondly, the Ministry plans to organise an international symposium such as this exchange workshop in Hawassa for ecology demonstration sites.
After the presentations, participants engaged in active discussion on stakeholder cooperation and the partnership process with the experts. In breakout groups they discussed challenges as well as best practices related to catchment degradation in their respective countries. They were then invited to compare those approaches with ecohydrology and reflect on the potential to apply ecohydrology through stewardship multi-stakeholder partnerships in their own national contexts.
Day 2 of the exchange workshop featured field trips to observe and learn firsthand about project sites in the Lake Hawassa catchment. This offered opportunities for direct engagement with local communities and a close-up view of the benefits achieved by collective action:
At the Boricha gully, efforts focused on restoring the highly degraded land through ecohydrology. Following a project briefing by Dr Mulugeta Dadi, participants engaged in a detailed Q&A session with both Dr Mulugeta and community representatives. The site is also a good example for the socio-ecological aspect highlighted in the presentations on Day 1. After six years, it has seen significant rehabilitation from degraded into once again productive land now starting to be used for cultivation by the local community, with support and training from the University.
The second destination was the Sama Ejersa Honey Producing and Processing Association. Here, community representatives welcomed the group and explained how – equipped with and trained on modern apiculture equipment by the PLH partnership – they have been able to increase their harvest and income. Now in their second harvest, the association successfully links sustainable resource management with livelihood support, reducing the farmer’s dependence on soil-based activities.
Looking ahead: next steps for stewardship multi-stakeholder partnerships in the 4 countries
Reflecting on the impressions and learnings from the workshop, participants gathered again in country teams to discuss what next steps they would like to take to support stewardship multi-stakeholder partnerships and what resources they would need to do so:
The partners from South Africa stressed the need to increase private sector involvement and funding via strong business cases and documented stories of change. They also highlighted improving community participation, especially among women and youth, to ensure ownership and long-term sustainability.
The partners from Tanzania focused on scaling up the Sustainable Water Management (SUWARMA) approach – suppported by NatuReS in Tanzania – by building community capacity for long-term maintenance. They emphasised leveraging expertise from all relevant actors, including universities, indigenous knowledge and the private sector, when expanding to new catchments.
Team Zambia highlighted the importance of proactive measures, such as early community engagement to prevent degradation in the first place. They also advocated for the promotion of alternative livelihoods and payment for ecosystem services to encourage adoption of restoration measures.
And lastly, the representatives from Ethiopia joint others in calling for increased involvement of local business, e.g. through CSR programs and identification of joint risks. The group also discussed formal recognition of multi-stakeholder platforms as legal entities to strengthen their ability to deliver and ensure sustainability. Regarding community involvement, they argued for building a better understanding for environmental issues e.g. through school programs to lay the foundation for stewardship.
The regional exchange concluded with a shared sense of purpose and renewed commitment to collaborative natural resource stewardship. It also reaffirmed the value of regional learning and collaboration with partners facing similar challenges. This was echoed in the closing remarks by Mr Njeru, GIZ, as he urged participants to make use of the new networks formed. Equipped with new knowledge and practical insights from the field, participants left inspired to apply ecohydrology and other approaches for sustainable natural resource management through multi-stakeholder collaboration in their own countries, paving the way for a Just Transition with fair and sustainable outcomes for all.
The Lake Hawassa sub-basin is a vital ecosystem and source of livelihood for its growing population. But it is facing increasing pressure on its water resources. Rapid population growth, urbanization, agricultural expansion, and climate change have led to concerns regarding water quality degradation, declining water availability, and potential conflicts over water use. Further, the sub-basin faces challenges related to water resource management, including contamination from agricultural runoff, industrial discharge, and sewage; inefficient water use; and lack of coordination among stakeholders. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the Protecting Lake Hawassa (PLH) Multi-Stakeholder Partnership was established in 2018, working to foster collaboration and coordination among actors from the public and private sector and civil society.
To enhance water use efficiency in the Lake Hawassa sub-basin and build capacities among stakeholders, the Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS) implemented by GIZ recently organized trainings on water use efficiency for key stakeholders in the sub-basin. Resource efficiency is defined as a way of using natural resources that is sustainable for all involved stakeholders, fostering economic productivity, ecological sustainability and social justice. This training initiative, as part of the PLH partnership, brought together representatives from various sectors, including industry, irrigated agriculture, hospitality, urban greening, and municipal water supply.
Stakeholder collaboration for more efficient water management
Held from May 7 to 9, 2025 in Hawassa, the three-day training focused on demonstrating and presenting the findings of a gap assessment on water usage efficiency and facilitated discussions to identify practical solutions for the sustainable management of this vital resource. The training attracted a total of 45 participants. These comprised 10 high-level decision-makers from public regulatory bodies and 35 senior professionals from relevant sectors.
Key public stakeholders included officials from the Ministry of Water and Energy, as well as representatives from the Sidama and Oromia regional state bureaus, and Hawassa City Municipalities. The private sector also played a crucial role in the discussions, with representatives from companies such as Moha Soft Drink Factory, Haile Resort, Almeta Farm, ELFORA, and Klaver Flowers.
The active stakeholder participation underscored the importance of mutual understanding and participatory actions in addressing the findings of the gap assessment study, conducted in collaboration with experts from Hawassa University. During the sessions, officials acknowledged the valuable insights gained and committed to fostering further cooperation towards shared solutions. Emphasis was put on the need for balanced and responsible utilization of water resources across all sectors. After the training, participants successfully demonstrated their learning outcomes in an assessment test.
Steps to improve water efficiency in the Lake Hawassa Sub-basin
The training highlighted several critical findings and recommendations for improving water use efficiency in the Lake Hawassa sub-basin:
Reduce Non-Revenue Water: Implement strategies for leak detection and repair, as well as meter maintenance and replacement.
Promote Water-Saving Behaviours: Encourage the adoption of water-saving fixtures and behaviours, particularly in growing middle-class neighbourhoods.
Introduce Tariff Systems: Consider block tariffs and metering for billing households to incentivize conservation among users.
Implement Rainwater Harvesting: Encourage practices to harvest and reuse rainwater for non-potable demands.
Upgrade Infrastructure: Invest in supply infrastructure to alleviate pressure on boreholes and improve water supply continuity.
Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR): Undertake MAR interventions to enhance groundwater recharge and sustainability.
The collective commitment demonstrated during this training marks a substantial step towards more efficient and sustainable water management practices in the region, ensuring the preservation of Lake Hawassa and its vital resources for future generations. Follow-up on these recommendations will take place through the technical committees of the Protecting Lake Hawassa (PLH) partnership. They will offer joint support to the respective stakeholders and institutions to act upon the identified needs and objectives for realizing more efficient use of water resources in the endangered ecosystem of Lake Hawassa.
