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GWP CAUCASUS & CENTRAL ASIA WORK PLAN 2008 Contents The overall goals and objectives of the GWP CACENA activity Output 1: IWRM water policy and strategy development facilitated on relevant levels Output 2: IWRM programs and tools developed in response to regional and country needs Output 3: Relations between GWP and other institutions, sectors, and relevant problems Output 4: GWP partnerships established and consolidated at relevant levels Output 5: GWP network effectively developed and managed
The overall goals and objectives of the GWP CACENA activity According to the Johannesburg Declaration (2002), the ultimate goal of the activities of Central Asia and Caucasus Partnership Network is to support and assist the countries in implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This process must be accompanied by public involvement in decision-making, support for the political will for cooperation between sectors and countries, initiating dialogue among all stakeholders and supporting practical activities locally implemented including capacity building. Work Content in 2008 According to the Regional Strategy adopted for 2004-2008, during 2008 – the last year of the cycle GWP-CACENA network must develop an agreement on subsequent strategic actions for broader development of water partnership in the region in order to reinforce the results in hand in promoting the concept of IWRM in the past five years. The Plan of Activities in 2008 includes five dimensions of activities in accordance with the outcomes approved by the GWPO (Stockholm) headquarters:
Output 1: IWRM water policy and strategy development facilitated on relevant levels The objective is to maintain adequate environment for the process of IWRM implementation on national level (forming water policy, developing legal framework, water sector funding) and coordination of regional limitations, or in other words, facilitating essential political support to water sector reforms in each country of the region. The following activities are proposed to achieve this goal: 1.a. Policy dialogues in the form of inter-sector roundtables to support national IWRM plans. These activities are supported by the Government of Finland. It was started in 2005 and continued in 2006-2007. Main attention must be focused on assistance to the countries in sharing experience among sectors and regional countries based on the analysis of the IWRM implementation process as well as promoting cutting-edge knowledge accumulated by the GWP (GWP technical reports, Toolbox, CapNet guidelines, CACENA regional reports, etc.). The outcome expected is that water management agencies in all CACENA countries assume the responsibility to implement IWRM principles in practice (through National Water Strategies, laws, local level actions, etc.) The first round of roundtables will be held on March 22 – International Water Day. The second round will be held in October. 1.b. Public awareness-raising campaign about the process of planning and implementation of IWRM concept as well as for support to the drinking water supply and sanitation programs in the framework of International Year of Sanitation. These activities are the follow-up of efforts started in each country of the region in 2004 with the support of the Finnish government. The objective is to ensure full understanding of the concept of IWRM in the context of achievement of MDGs. There are plans to develop and disseminate various publications in the form of special reports, brochures, posters, policy briefings, and media information. It is planned to conduct national workshops in the framework of this campaign in September. 1.c. Preparation of the regional report on the status of potable water supply and sanitation problems to raise political support for reforms in the countries of the region. General regional report will be prepared based on the reports prepared by the national experts on the problems in this sector. The report will be submitted to the appropriate government bodies to mobilize required support in addressing the identified issues. To this end, a special regional workshop will be organized in September 2008 in Yerevan, Armenia. It is planned to raise additional funds to support these planned events from DFID (Department for International Development) – USD 16,000 are expected. 1.d. Technical assistance to the national IWRM planning projects (to generate critical mass of driving forces for those UNDP projects started and in-progress in the countries). Main attention will be focused on transferring know-how and GWP materials to the teams implementing projects in the countries to ensure proper understanding of the IWRM concept by the implementers of National Plans – national water institutions and basin organizations. For the purposes of financial support to these works, negotiations will be held with GWPO (Stockholm) and UNDP for establishment of a special fund for coordination of efforts in the amount of USD 20,000 from GWPO’s auxiliary support fund and another USD 20,000 from UNDP. 1.e. Coordination of joint efforts with ADB (creation of water supply operators network and IWRM basin programs). In November 2007 the first working meeting of 14 organizations – potable water supply of CACENA countries were held under coordination of the Su Arnasi, a Kazakh association. The first founding meeting of the regional potable water operators of CACENA countries should be held in March 2008 (tentatively in Tashkent). GWP-CACENA Secretariat envisages to appoint a resident coordinator with support of GWPO’s auxiliary fund (about USD 8,000) to communicate with the established network of potable water supply operators and launch IWRM basin programme (Syrdarya river basin). Output 2: IWRM programs and tools developed in response to regional and country needs The objective is to propose IWRM instruments to the countries in the region (applicable operational water resources management and regulating water relations). These instruments should facilitate the transformation to support regional and national needs. The following actions are proposed to achieve this objective: 2.a. Capacity building in the form of training workshops to nurture new understanding of IWRM concept in the countries (including follow-up actions after the Tbilisi conference on water financing in February 2008) in all CACENA countries. These activities are the follow-up of the efforts started in 2005 and continued in 2006 with special support of the Finnish Government. The goal is capacity building for managers in the process of IWRM planning and implementation involving not only water specialists but also water users and other stakeholders. GWP report “Catalyzing changes..” and CapNet “IWRM Planning Guidelines” already translated into Russian should constitute the ultimate platform of the training courses. Also the experience of a number of current pilot projects in the CACENA region will be disseminated. The first round of national training workshops in the eight countries will be held in May, and 2nd – in September 2008. 2.b. Promoting knowledge about the concept of IWRM, sustainable development and other aspects of water management. GWP-CACENA will continue its efforts for translation of advanced IWRM publications into Russian and vernaculars as well as development and publication of essential materials of regional significance. 2.c. Technical assistance and training for utilization of IWRM Toolbox – joint activities with GWP CEE and GWP-NeWater Alliance. Identification and adaptation of instruments most applicable in the CACENA region. These activities will include development and publication of case studies on IWRM Toolbox in the region. Following up joint efforts with GWP CEE started in 2004 and continued in 2005-2007 (eight joint workshops). The following activities are designed for promotion and facilitation of the following tools:
The training workshops are planned as follows – the first one is to be held on the issues of establishment and development of Basin Councils in Atyrau, Kazakhstan; the second one– in July on the issues of drinking water supply and sewage in Baku, Azerbaijan. Output 3: Relations between GWP and other institutions, sectors, and relevant problems The objective is to ensure implementation of IWRM principles in regional and national programs and assist the countries in creation of a platform for participation/engagement of all stakeholders in these programs. Another aspect is that the network of CACENA partnership should become the real partner on global, regional, and national levels so that to influence the process of actual implementation of IWRM principles. The works consist of the following: 3.a. Participation in the CEE-CACENA component of the European Water Initiative. In 2005 GWP CACENA spearheaded the initiative to become a partner in the EU Water Initiative in the framework of the working group on IWRM component of the CEE-CACENA programme. It is expected that GWP-CACENA will get the opportunity to make proper contribution to these activities by active participation in the key CEE-CACENA events in 2008. 3.b. Joint activities with regional NGOs. GWP CACENA will continue to support most active NGOs in the region. Certain contribution will be made to the EcoForum activities in Central Asia and Caucasus. Also traditional support to the annual public campaign on the Day of Araks-Kura Rivers (June 2, 2008) will be held jointly with REC Caucasus. Georgia’s imitative to conduct Day for Protection of the Black Sea will be held on October 30. Output 4: GWP partnerships established and consolidated at relevant levels The objective is to expand public participation and awareness through involvement of the public in the transformed water management institutions and reinforcing regional network of GWP-CACENA through network development on national levels. The following activities are proposed to achieve this result: 4.a. Support to the Country Water Partnerships. There are already four Country Water Partnerships – Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, and Uzbekistan. GWP-CACENA will facilitate their enhanced profile in implementation of IWRM principles. In the countries where CWP is not yet formally created, a national initiative group will be set up for establishment of Country Water Partnership. It is expected that the process of formal establishment of Country Water Partnerships in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan will be finalized in February 2008. In Turkmenistan this process will be finalized by the end of 2008. 4.b. Regional annual conference of all stakeholders (end of November 2008 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan) should become the appropriate platform for monitoring and assessment of Action and Work plan and approval of the new strategy of regional partnership for 2009-2013. 4.c. Maintenance and development of GWP-CACENA website and other initiatives for communication among partners – regular activities of the Secretariat of the regional partnership network. 4.d. Collaboration with neighboring GWP countries (cooperation with APWF) as follow-up actions after the 1st summit held in Japan on December 3-4, 2007. It is expected to set up a regional fund with support of Japanese Water Forum (USD 24,000 expected). Output 5: GWP network effectively developed and managed The goal is to develop a full-fledged regional water partnership and effective management of GWP CACENA’s activities. It is envisaged to enhance the activities of the Regional Council and Regional Technical Committee in 2008 in order to develop a new strategy of regional partnership network for 2009-2013. The new strategy will have to include efforts focused on practical implementation of the decisions made at the 1st summit of APWF and 16th session of UNCSD. GWP CACENA should provide assistance to the countries in preparation for the 5th World Water Forum to be held in Turkey in 2009. In the framework of this preparation GWP CACENA jointly with Interstate Water Coordination Commission will take an active part in the organization of a sub-regional conference in Bishkek in April 2008 for further promotion of the IWRM ideas and potable water supply and sewage issues. Network’s regional activities and reinforcing GWP’s brand is amongst major objectives of GWP CACENA. More attention should be focused on the mechanism of network management and information dissemination. Support to the Regional Secretariat and participation at GWP-initiated international events as well as regular meetings of the Council and Regional TEŃ is the part of responsibilities. There are plans for regular meetings of GWP CACENA Council and active participation at the next conference of GWP Consultative Partners to be held in Stockholm in August 2008. The main objective in 2008 is to develop and reach an agreement on the new strategy of regional water partnership in 2009-2013. Mobilization of additional funds is instrumental for implementation of all aforementioned activities in the region. The first priority is to develop a fundraising strategy (some initiatives were mentioned above). The main problem is the high level of competition for donor funds in the region among existing regional institutions (e.g. International Fund to Rescue the Aral Sea, Interstate Water Coordination Commission, some NGOs including REC, etc.). GWP/CACENA intends to build bridges/alliances with these regional institutions for joint activities (workshops, dialogues, trainings, pilot projects). Also it is essential to continue negotiations process (with appropriate support of GWPO (Stockholm) on interstate level) with potential donors in the region to develop new avenues for cooperation.
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