The objective of the Zambezi River Basin Management Project for Southern Africa is to strengthen Zambezi Water Course Commission (ZAMCOM’s) role in promoting cooperative management and development within the Zambezi River Basin through institutional strengthening, improved information sharing and decision support and strategic planning. The financing for the project will be provided through a US$4 m grant from the multi-donor trust fund for Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA MDTF), hosted by the World Bank, to be implemented over three years. The financing is being processed as the first in a Series of projects according to the investment project financing OP/BP 10.00. The Series of projects will be supported through numerous grants, complimenting an existing portfolio and pipeline of IDA projects among the eight riparian states within the Zambezi River Basin over a 10 to 15 year period. The projects are intended to provide a broad program of support across the Zambezi River Basin coalescing around the Zambezi Watercourse Commission and the agreed objectives outlined in the Agreement. The ZAMCOM Agreement provides a unifying framework for design of the series in response to the common development goals of the riparian states and regional organizations relating to the integrated development and management of water resources in the Zambezi River Basin. An integrated project document with separate components aligned to different recipient executed CIWA grants was considered at the concept stage. However, this approach was rejected during preparation to allow greater flexibility in processing aligned to the readiness of the different recipient executed projects under the program. The integrated program document will also have restricted the flexibility to include additional recipient executed grants under the broader program during implementation. The pr