Business Model
Overview
This section explores different business models for River Basin Organisations. Business models are defined as frameworks for creating economic, social, and environmental value in a shared watercourse context.
Description
Shared watercourses present opportunities for the sustainable development in the SADC region. While the region asserts an urgent need to take advantage of these development opportunities current RBOs remain ineffective. This is partly due to a lack of clarity in the roles and mandates of the RBO to promote cooperation and ensure development. It is therefore argued that river basin organisations need to be strengthened and empowered to better execute the mandate trusted to them by watercourse states in accordance with the revised protocol on shared watercourses and its institutional framework for implementation.
The objective of this section is therefore to outline possible business models for RBOs to carry out their mandate both more effectively and in accordance with the SADC Protocol (2000), the SADC Treaty and the stated objectives of the water course states. The business models are based on an analysis of functions an RBO could have to reach its stated objectives moving from simple to more complex situations.