Operationalisation  of The Cubango Okavango River Basin(CORB) Fund Stakeholder workshop 11-12 November 2025 , Hilton Garden Hotel- Gaborone

The Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) and its partners have embarked on the creation of the CORB Fund, a regional hybrid fund designed to promote ecological resilience, socio-economic development, and trans-boundary cooperation in the basin. The fund is intended to become a long-term financial mechanism to support the implementation of strategic, climate-resilient, and community-driven interventions in alignment with the basin-wide vision.

To advance this ambition, the European Union (EU) has entrusted the Agence Françaisede Développement (AFD) with the management of an €8 million subsidy to support the operationalisation of the CORB Fund. The consulting team, led by Espelia, has been mandated to assist in translating this financial commitment into a coherent operational framework. The objective of the two day workshop is first, to provide a robust diagnostic report  of the CORB Fund’s enabling environment—its stakeholders, capacities, institutional architecture and financial model; and second, to define the strategic orientations and practical steps required to make the fund CORB Fund – Diagnosis Report operational and impactful.

The workshop has brought together stakeholders , Okavango Basin Steering Committee, GWP-SA, Eeurppan Union commission and CORB fund board of Directors form the  basin states of the Republics of  Angola ,Botswana and Namibia.