At the opening the Network Officer was given the floor to present his comments to the recent progress and status of the Regional Water Partnership (RWP):
- An update of the positive news from Finland, where an agreement is about to be signed with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Helsinki, which will secure the funding of the 2009 Work Plan. Positive signals were conveyed that GWP CACENA will be funded in the same way for coming years within the framework of the Wider Europe Initiative polices of Finland. This support will strengthen the region’s position as IWRM facilitator incl. capacity building and public awareness work at regional and country levels, i.e. a strong focus on Strategic Goals 1 and 2, of the GWP strategy 2009-13. The 2010 plan includes continued cooperation with the Helsinki University of Technology on the water problems of South Caucasus.
- The Outcome Mapping reporting investments that were done with two trainings in 2008 and 2009 must be better reflected in the actual reporting from the CWPs. In the discussion the CWP representatives agreed that report writing must improve and that good reports are investments, i.e. they serve as tools to promote GWP among policy makers and the donors.
The Regional Chair, Nino Chkhobadze announced in February 2009 that she will resign. It was agreed to set up a search committee for a new Chair outside of the “Comfort Zone” of the present RC. A new Regional Chair candidate will selected and proposed for appointment at the next RC Meeting in May 2010.
The Regional Coordinator, Vadim Sokolov, reported from recent meetings with ADB in Manila as a follow up to the GWPO meeting with ADB in Delhi in early November. Water programmes within ADB have a low priority. The proposed opportunity to link in with the ADB Syr Darya Project is deemed to fail as money is paid directly to the Kazakh Government. The proposed opportunities fields of cooperation with ADB on Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) and Climate Change are to be investigated. The talk goes on and the most concrete ADB advice is to participate in the ADB Conference on the new strategy 2020, to be held in Manila, 12-14 October 2010.
The Country Water Partnerships (CWPs) reported on their work in 2009, and a diverse flora of activities was presented. Although less outcomes were formulated the work is going in the right direction with CWPs showing a great potential with the added value of their IWRM platforms:
- Round-Tables, dialogues and seminars on water resources issues, e.g. IWRM implementation with new River Basin Councils in Kazakhstan, water efficiency in irrigation in Azerbaijan, IWRM planning in Tajikistan, Water and Climate in Armenia and Georgia, water policy Kyrgyzstan.
- Publications, incl. school book in Armenia and translations of GWP publications, e.g. the IWRM book in Russian, Strategy in Azerbaijani, TEC IWRM paper 4 in Georgian.
- Water Supply and Sanitation, in Armenia with ADB, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
- Students and young professionals, i.e. two university curricula on IWRM in Kazakhstan, proposal to parliament in Georgia
- Gender in Tajikistan
- Media in Turkmenistan newspapers and radio
The Regional Council reviewed the 2010 Work Plan and Budget which was formally adopted. The annual calendar of activities includes CWP activities of SGs 1 and 2, ToolBox trainings, the 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference in Bakuriani, Georgia.
Protocol of RC CACENA meeting (pdf, 18 kB)
