O N - G O I N G

PROJECT HISTORY

The history of the project goes back to 1999 when IWMI and SIC submitted a concept note to SDC on improving water management in Central Asia. The project concept and framework was developed and discussed in three mee-tings and workshops, one in Lahore and two in Tashkent, with participation of SDC, SIC-ICWC and IWMI. Since then the project has successfully completed three phases and is currently in its Phase IV.

• PHASE I: A six month Inception Phase was launched in September 2001 and was further extended until 30th April 2002 to prepare and finalise the implementation arrangements and related documents (project structure, agreements, project document, credit proposal) for the Implementation Phase (Phase II).   



• PHASE II (01.05.02 – 30.04.05) that followed included eight outputs spread over three components. The two project objectives were:
  (i) To introduce and pilot test Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and water users participation among the water management institutions in the Ferghana Valley; and
  (ii) To demonstrate options to increase water productivity at all water management levels.
  
  

  Major accomplishments of Phase II

  The IWRM conceptual framework was developed and approved by the ministries of water management in the three countries. This phase also established a comprehensive social mobilization approach to establish bottom up Water User Associations (WUAs) and unified canal management organizations along hydrographic boundaries. These organizations involved local farmers and users in the governance and management. At the field level (pilot plots), the project has demonstrated the potential to increase water productivity by 55 to 95%, with a 30% reduction in water supply through effective management of the water at the on-farm level.



• PHASE III (01.05.05 – 30.04.08) was to strengthen the achievements made in the previous phases. As a result tested IWRM principles were further improved, consolidated and generalized for wide scale dissemination through extensive training and capacity building activities, effective partnerships with policy makers, other projects, technical schools and extension services, and also extended to two test cases of trans-boundary small rivers (TSRs).




Major accomplishments of Phase III

The third phase (01/05/05 – 30/04/08) consolidated and generalized the adopted IWRM principles and carried out extensive capacity building, training and dissemination campaigns for wider dissemination. This phase addressed the key issues related to strengthening vertical linkages, e.g. water distribution and public participation in canal, WUA and WUG levels of the water management hierarchy; i.e. from tertiary (informal user groups) to secondary (formal user associations) to main canal levels (public-government partnerships) while making links to national policy. This was a fundamental achievement in a post – Soviet region, as a ‘first time ever’ where users and governments joined to manage an important economic asset like the canal system. The horizontal, e.g. inter-sectoral integration was achieved through well designed awareness and mobilization activities. During this phase, the project succeeded to move water management in pilot canals and their command areas from administrative directive to demand oriented allocation of water and from time to volume based water fees. This is eventually leading towards identification of ‘who should and can pay for what’. During the Third phase, three functional National Coordination & Support Groups (NCSGs) were established in all three countries to ensure support and better policy uptake at national level. The main tasks of these multidisciplinary and inter-ministerial groups were to develop and disseminate recommendations for policy changes at the national level. For better dissemination, replication, uptake and sustainability, the project has established an effective network and partnerships with other relevant projects in the region; teamed up with extension and consultancy services active in places; and established collaborative linkages with local academic institutions. In 2007, a new important component - trans-boundary small rivers – was added to extend IWRM principles along selected small rivers, which have linkages to pilot canals. The focus of this new component was to analyze the current situation with a perspective of creating a mechanism that helps sharing water across national borders using IWRM principles, which can be used in other small and main rivers in Central Asia. Further, by the end of 2007, a small one-year project was piggy backed to IWRM Ferghana to support the construction of water measurement devices in distribution canals on demand basis as a means to support the later introduction of volumetric water fees, i.e. the introduction of the “pay for what you get” principle. The External Reviewers of the project appreciated these results achieved ‘in a not always conducive environment’ and recommended a further phase for finishing unfinished work, and to further strengthen the inclusion of non agricultural water users into the institutional frame for water allocation management and decision making.



• PHASE IV (01.05.08 – 31.12.10): During this current phase institutional, organizational and management approaches of IWRM developed and tested so far in pilot canals, in command areas below those canals and in TSRs shall be completed, consolidated and made fully operational.
  
  

  Major expectations of Phase IV

  It is expected to complete all IWRM related work in all three pilot canal areas, filling the gaps identified before The gained experiences shall be compiled with a view of promoting IWRM into other areas of the region and of experimentally scaling up to basin level. The Project shall develop need based capacity building and dissemination strategies with built-in impact assessment systems for further up scaling and out scaling to other areas of Ferghana valley and the three countries An IWRM Expert Group shall be created in each country and supported with sufficient professional material to support respective government endeavours to promote IWRM nationally and to reorient the water allocation and management based on balancing supply and demand. - Special attention shall be paid to economic sustainability of the IWRM institutions, questions such as ‘who should pay for what’ will be addressed and the ‘ability to pay’ of the agricultural and non agricultural water users will be assessed During this phase, it is intended to promote a common vision on the role and scope of IWRM institutions from the CMO to WUA/WUG for each of three countries under the leadership of the respective countries and in coordination with other donors On each of the two trans-boundary rivers a Joint Commission as a negotiation platform for water resources management in TSRs according to IWRM principles shall be established In each country, a unified field team led by a Country Manager shall be responsible to plan and implement the project in the frame of the annual operational plans with guidance from IWMI/SIC experts

  
  

  The project was also supplemented by the Canal Automation Project (Duration: 01st November 2003 to 30th October 2006) which is looking at providing the infrastructure necessary for a fine-tuned, transparent and measurable water flow in the three irrigation schemes served by the pilot canals.