IWMI is one of the partners in implementing TEMPUS project providing funding and research support to the first group of 3 graduate students from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan admitted to a new international MSc Program "Environment and Water Resources Management". This MSc Program was established in 2005 jointly by IWMI, Wageningen University and Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Amelioration. The first three Central Asian students admitted are Mr. Ruslan Qalandarov and Ms. Indira Akramova from Uzbekistan and Mr. Ahmet Shadurdiev from Turkmenistan. Presently all of them are almost through their studies finalizing their dissertations. Earlier last month (November) a dry run was held at IWMI’s Tashkent office where all the three candidates presented their work results.
First to have successfully defended his dissertation a couple of days ago in front of an academic panel made up of the three institutions hosting this joint international MSc program was student from Turkmenistan - Ahmet Shadurdiev. His master’s research focused on “Wind and Water Erosion in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and Overview of the Interventions“. His
research is all about soil erosion processes causing much damage to the sustainable economic development of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In particular, blowing or washout of the top soils of agricultural lands in both countries is a major cause of such erosion.This normally leads to loss of humus on top soil decreasing the overall fertility, which requires some certain control measures. Soil erosion processes normally imply erosion from wind and water such as soil washouts and blowing out of sands and sandy soils. At the same time wind can be also detrimental to agricultural lands if no preventive measures are taken. So the research attempted to systematize data and information available on wind and water erosion in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, in particular, with regards agricultural lands, pastures, industrial areas and other disturbed areas and the measures to combat it.
The research topics selected by the other 2 students from Uzbekistan with their master’s awards still pending are as follows:
“Effect of Mulching on Productivity of Salt-Affected Soils of the Syrdarya Province, Uzbekistan” by Ruslan Qalandarov;
“Detection of Spatial Distribution of Soil Salinity by Remote Sensing in Galaba Farm, Uzbekistan” by Indira Akramova.
The main goal of the project is introduction of new International MSc program on "Environment and Water Resources Management" as well as development of regional co-operation in this subject in the Central Asian countries situated within the Amu-Darya River basin. These goals are consistent with higher education systems reform in Central Asian countries, following changes in legal and regulatory framework for education. Establishing links between participating universities and institutions is expected to integrate academic community and lead to more effective transfer of the teaching methods and knowledge from EU universities and international research organizations.
From December 15 to 24, 2006 IWMI held a series of training workshops for newly established water users associations (WUAs) of the Ferghana Valley in the 4 major locations of the SDC-funded IWRM-Ferghana project - Soghd Province in Tadjikistan, Fergana and Andijan Provinces in Uzbekistan and Osh Province in Kyrgyzstan. In each of the sites the training was two-fold: directors, irrigation staff, accountants of multiple local WUAs as well as staff of local government water management organizations and IWMI’s field SMID teams were trained first in effective water distribution methods and then how to assess the water management performance of their WUAs. The water distribution training was built around existing water distribution problems in the newly emerging WUAs and possible ways to solve them through establishing informal water user groups and introducing rotational water distribution such as based on time. Training in WUA performance assessment focused on why WUAs need such assessment; how it can be conducted; how WUA performance can be assessed using a range of performance indicators such as water adequacy, timeliness, equity and reliability; what are the responsibilities and roles of WUA staff in conducting such performance assessment, what are the data requirements and formats, how the performance results can be interpreted and converted into concrete management decisions. Throughout the training the participants were involved using a variety of interactive methods such as field case presentations, focus group discussions, water distribution calculations, role plays and planning real field activities. At the end of each training the trainees prepared their own action plans aiming at introducing time-based water distribution and performance assessment in their respective WUAs. The IWMI staff conducting these training workshops included Iskandar Abdullaev, Jusipbek Kazbekov and Kahramon Jumabaev.
On 8-9 December, 2006 IWMI held a 2-day workhsop in Khojand, Tajikistan to discuss IMT options for pilot
Khoja-Bakirgan Canal (KBC). KBC is one of the 3 pilot canals of the IWRM-Ferghana project to have started
gradually practicing IWRM principles. As the first step in this process 5 years ago the Project selected one main canal in each project country that used to be divided between several district water authorities to establish a single management organization for each of the canals. As a result 3 state-run hydraulically unified canal management organizations (CMOs) were set up in 2003 to practice “one system – one management” principle on Aravan-Akbura Canal flowing through 2 distrctis in Osh Province of Kyrgyzstan, South Ferghana Canal flowing through 9 districts in Andijan and Ferghana Provinces of Uzbekistan and 1 district in Osh Province of Kyrgyzstan, and Khoja-Bakirgan Canal flowing through 2 districts in
Soghd Province of Tajikistan.
As another important step it is planned for each canal to formally separate governance and management functions in order to allow public participation in canal governance. So it is envisaged that initially this will come as joint governance by the state and the water users entering into joint management agreement. At some point in future this partnership is expected to evolve into full devolvement of management to water users. However, this will require some certain conditions to mature which is not yet the case. First to introduce and pilot-test new management arrangements earlier this year in March was Aravan- Akbura Canal in Osh province, Kyrgyzstan. Now it was time for the Khoja-Bakirgan Canal stakeholders in Soghd Province of Tajijikistan to start finalizing and formally agreeing on similar joint governance arrangements.
So the IMT workshop held in Khojand tried to analyze and consult with all the major canal stakeholders involved (local water users associations, large collective farms, the Tajik Water Ministry, other ministries concerned, provincial water authority, canal administration as well as other interested international projects) on available IMT options for this canal and come up with the most appropriate one. The workshop was held in the form of a business game splitting all the participants into three groups of key stakeholders – national level of government water management (“blue team”), local level of government water management (“red team”) and canal water users at large (“green team”). Moderated by 3 IWMI staff (Jusip, Nargiza and Murat) each team was asked to present their understanding of existing water management system with
their specific roles in the system, identify major problems faced in managing water and the ways to solve them and attribute all the roles, functions and problems so identified to either governance or management side.
Following the presentation on the draft IMT concept and possible options developed for Khoja-Bakirgan Canal each team was given one specific option to perform detailed SWOT analysis. After analyzing and presenting their SWOT results everybody was asked to cast their vote in favor of the most appropriate option. As a result the partnership based on a joint management agreement between the Tajik Ministry of Reclamation and Water and the local Union of Farmer Water Users was approved by absolute majority of the workshop participants as the
most appropriate governance option for their canal for the time-being. To make this happen, a core working group was selected at the end of the day to include all the key parties involved.
The working group met again the next day morning to work out a detailed action plan for holding consultations with
their respective parties and finalizing the terms and conditions of the joint management (JM) agreement. They
have also tentatively planned to hold a National round table meeting in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, to finalize and formally sign the JM Agreement between Tajik Ministry for Reclamation and Water and the Union of Khoja-Bakirgan Canal Farmer Water Users somewhere in mid-February.
An international conference titled "The Last Drop? Water, Security and Sustainable Development in Central Eurasia" was held on 1 -2 December in the Hague, the Netherlands at the Institute of Social studies (ISS).
It was participated by Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev from IWMI-Central Asia presenting on “Water Security in Central Asia: Troubled Future or Pragmatic Partnership?” (Download [393 Kb]).
The major objective of the conference was to contribute to the literature on water, security and sustainable development by focusing on Central Eurasia. The conference was targeting to:
Build upon and consolidate the growing critique of the dominant approach to the study of water, which considers scarcity as an inevitable outcome of economic development and an unavoidable cause of militarized conflicts.
Demonstrate the possibility of an alternative paradigm that sees water not as a source of violent conflict but as a tool for achieving regional peace and development.
Provide an alternative entry point into the current debates on political stability and security in Central Eurasia.
Explore the parallels between the politics of water and other scarce resources, e.g. oil.
Evaluate the role of water in achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction by taking part in discussions about the Millennium Development Goals, such as the role of institutions and processes in shaping national and international water policy goals.
The conference was co-organized and co funded by ISS, Centre for the Study of Transition and Development (CESTRAD) and the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP).
The conference involved more than 20 researchers from EU, USA, Israel, Russian and Uzbekistan. In the conference 5 sessions held with 14 papers presented on water and security issues. IWMI’s paper titled “Water Security in Central Asia: Troubled Future or Pragmatic Partnership?” (by Iskandar Abdullaev, Herath Manthritilake, Jusipbek Kazbekov) was presented at the session No 4, chaired by Murat Arsel of ISS.
Most interesting papers which could be potentially of interest to IWMI researchers are: “”Cooperation” and “Conflict” in Water Politics Discourse: A Critique" by Jan Selby, “Water and Sustainable Development: The Challenges for Afghanistan” by Peter Mollinga, “Demand driven water distribution in a strong state: allocation, scheduling and delivery of irrigation water in Khorazem, Uzbekistan” by Gert Jan Veldwisch.
In May, 2007 ISS is planning to publish book titled "The Last Drop? Water, Security and Sustainable Development in Central Eurasia
. This book will include all papers presented in the conference. Authors will be contacted shortly for updating, reworking their papers. It is expected that by March all authors will release their last drafts for external review.
ISS is an international graduate school of policy-oriented critical social science. It brings together students and teachers from the South and the North in a European environment. Established in 1952 as the International Institute of Social Studies by Dutch universities and the Netherlands Ministry of Education it does research, teaching and public service in the field of development studies and international cooperation.
A new innovative management tool and methodology has been prepared by IWRM-Ferghana project partners - IWMI and SIC ICWC - for the water users associations (WUAs) established in the pilot areas of the Ferghana Valley. The tool is business planning for WUAs, and it is meant to nurture good management practices in these newly emerging user-driven organizations. In particular, the purpose of the new tool was to help WUAs set their long-term strategic goals and work out the ways to achieve them; create a user-friendly framework for SWOT analysis, performance assessment and feasibility studies for WUAs to sustain their operations.
For this, a series of 4 training workshops were held in three project countries to introduce directors, accountants
and lead specialists of WUAs across 3 pilot canals to this innovative instrument. Although, how well this new tool will be finally adopted and integrated into WUAs’ management and planning activities still remains to be seen, it was positively received by the trainees showing quite an eagerness to master and apply the tool. The training workshops were jointly conducted by IWMI (Oyture Anarbekov) and its project partner SIC ICWC from 2 to 12 November.
Iskandar Abdullaev, IWMI’s regional researcher from Central Asia, has successfully defended today his doctorate dissertation having been awarded a PhD degree in Irrigation and Drainage. The verdict by the Academic Board of the Supreme Attestation Commission of Uzbekistan (SAC), who gathered earlier today in the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Drainage (TIMI) for a 2-hour PhD recital given by Iskandar was unanimous. The PhD dissertation titled “Water Conservation and Amelioration Issues of the Irrigated Areas of the Bukhara Oasis was brilliantly presented and approved by all top 15 Uzbek academicians making up the SAC Board, including 2 official opponents that were specifically assigned by the Board to scrutinize Iskandar’s dissertation. The full event consisted of a 30-minute presentation by Iskandar, question time with the PhD candidate answering all the tricky questions from the Board, formal comments from all dissertation reviewers and keynote speeches from both opponents. Following this, the SAC Board was left alone for final
deliberations and secret ballot and in a short while came up with the final verdict publicly delivered to all those attending the event. Since attendance was open to all those interested, the house was full with quite a number of IWMI staff also contributing to the crowd.
So here are our congratulations to Doctor Iskandar with this milestone event in his career!
IWMI’s project on Groundwater Management for Improved Irrigation in the Ferghana Valley part of the Syrdarya
River Basin funded by OPEC has been formally wound up today by holding a 1-day international workshop to discuss its major results. Titled “Conjunctive Management of Surface and Ground Water Recourses in the Ferghana Valley for Irrigation: Problems and Solutions” the workshop was participated by IWMI, ICARDA as well as lead researchers from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The event was also attended by IWMI’s theme leader Hugh Turral who presented on IWMI’s research approaches in Basin Water Management.
After hearing all the specific reports on the project the participants finally agreed as follows:
Approve the project research results as having both scientific and practical value and recommend for publication in mass media for wider public awareness;
Request Ministry of Agriculture and Water resources of Uzbekistan to consider the project results for possible application;
Suggest IWMI to continue research on modeling the conjunctive management of surface and ground water resources within both specific aquifers and the Ferghana Valley as a whole including those located in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan;
When doing the above also consider quality of both ground and surface waters;
Assess the risks of low water incidence in the Ferghana Valley as well as in the Syrdarya river’s middle reaches.
Three case studies from civil society partners of IWMI in Central Asia have been selected as qualified to take part in Innovation Marketplace and CSO-CGIAR Forum at the CGIAR's Annual General Meeting (AGM06) in Washington, D.C., due to be held during the first week of December, 2006. These three case studies include Gulistan State University (Uzbekistan), Farmers Learning Alliance (Uzbekistan) and Water User Association 'Japalak' from Kyrgyzstan. They will be among a total of 46 civil society organizations (SCO) teamed up with their corresponding CGIAR partners to have qualified as such.
Among other things during the event all of them will also have a chance to compete for the USD 30,000 prize money aimed at strengthening the mutual cooperation and partnership between these civil organizations and their corresponding CGIAR partners. For this each of our 3 successful local partners with our support has prepared an English-language poster highlighting the innovative character of our mutual partnership and some ideas for moving and expanding it further. Here are the posters that will be competing for the prize.
An article titled “Water That We Loose” has been published in today’s issue of “Pravda Vostoka”, a leading government daily newspaper in Uzbekistan. This article was jointly prepared by Dr. Akmal Karimov, researcher from IWMI-Central Asia, Dr. Aslan Mavlanov, Deputy-Director of National Hydro-Geology Service and Dr. Norkobul Rahmatov, deputy-head of the Syrdarya River Basin Water Authority. It builds on the findings of the IWMI-led project “Ground Water Management for Improved Irrigation in the Syrdarya River Basin” and looks into the issues of groundwater use and development in the Ferghana Valley. Particularly, the authors argue that the benefits of better ground water
management and utilization include among other things the following:
Reduced demand for river flow during summer months;
Increased availability of the Syrdarya river flow for mid- and downstream provinces;
Reduced drainage flows to the river and as a result reduced water-logging and ground water salinity;
Improved quality of the river water in the mid- and downstream;
Increased hydro power generation in the upstream.
Less or no water losses (particularly in winter) to downstream Arnasai depression
Research findings by a group of IWMI researchers working in Central Asia has been published in the latest 100-th issue of IWMI's Research Report series. Titled "The Reliability Improvement in Irrigation Services: Application of Rotational Water Distribution to Tertiary Canals in Central Asia" the report discusses and provides details, findings and recommendations as on how existing water distribution problems faced by Central Asian farmers can be effectively tackled through alternative approaches that build up on collective actions of water users themsleves and ensure better reliability, equity, transparancy and fairness among farmers when distributing water. Particularly the report focuses on the methodology and benefits of rotational water distribution in the changed farming context in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The action research was undertaken in a typical distributary canal of a Water Users Association (WUA) in the Kyrgyz Republic, during 2003 and 2004.
As earlier announced on 28 and 29 August, 2006 IWMI-Central Asia in partnership with Gulistan University, ICARDA, Ministry of Agriculture and Water of Uzbekistan and the Syrdarya Province government held a two-day event that included an Exhibition of Technologies for Remediation of Saline Soils and a forum on Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Mirzachul Steppe area. The event was hosted by the Gulistan University located in the town of Gulistan, Syrdarya Province, which is the most salinity-stricken area in Uzbekistan. The main goal of the event was to demonstrate technologies that help improve land and water productivity under saline settings.
An exhibition of this type that brings both the researchers and the farmers together in one place has been conducted for the first time in Central Asia. Each NARES and IARC center was given 5 meters in stall spaces to display their posters, brochures, leaflets, models and sample crop species. In the 3 fields nearby there were also tractors and other agricultural mechanisms and appliances on display with some real field action performed and demonstrated by the researchers.
In special group discussions participated by the bright spots farmers and the researchers both sides shared their views on the results achieved in the project, what they most liked or disliked about this fair and how to go about disseminating the bright spots and research experiences on a widest possible scale. Overall, both the farmers and the researchers called the event very usefull and wanted it to be held on a regular basis - once or even twice a year. As a result, the organizers learnt quite a number of good lessons and insighs as to how to make such events much more efficent in future.
Overall the event was attended by 400 local farmers, 200 Central Asian and international researchers as well the Governor and all district governors of the Syrdarya Province, and two deputy ministers of agriculture and water of Uzbekistan. Among the exhibitors were 10 NARES centres, 7 international centres, including 5 CGIAR members.
Ms. Gunchinmaa Tumur has joined IWMI-Central Asia office today as IWMI's Post-Doctoral Fellow. She will be stationed in Tashkent while doing her post-doc research.
Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan was again the venue this year for GWP-CACENA’s 2 workshops (Global Water Partnership for Caucasus and Central Asia). The first workshop “Speed-up of IWRM – 2005 Objectives Implementation in Central Asia” held on 27-28 July was organized by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination in Central Asia, the Global Water
Partnership, and the UN Environmental Program. During this event the participants concentrated on the development of the National “Road Maps” with regard to the actions planned for transition to integrated water resources management (IWRM) and water saving against the commitments adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002). The second workshop held on 31-31 July was dedicated to IWRM Tool Box issues with special focus on the development, authorship, requirements and review process for country-wise case studies. 2 case studies on Uzbekistan and Kyryzstan/Kazakhstan were presented.
The ADB-funded Project on Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands (also known as the BRIGHT SPOTS PROJECT) led by IWMI in cooperation with ICARDA and ICBA is going to hold a “Farmer Fair” on August 28-29, 2006 in the town of Gulistan, 117 km south-west of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. About 500 farmers and a wide range of exhibitors are expected to take part in the event which will be hosted by the Gulistan State University.
The main idea of the Fair is to showcase the most promising agricultural technologies and best practices aimed at improving agricultural production on degraded lands that have potential for further up-scaling and diffusion.
The specific objectives of the Fair are:
Share with farmers and other participants the knowledge generated under the project;
Demonstrate technologies applied by the farmers and share their findings and concerns;
Create an opportunity for decision-makers, researchers, farmers and other stakeholders to share their up-to-date knowledge and experiences.
The detailed program of the Fair is under preparation and soon will be available online.
For any further inquiries about the event please contact Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev (IWMI-Central Asia).
An annual assembly meeting of the TEMPUS EWASIA Project took place on 12 - 16 June, 2006 at Wageningen University, Netherlands, where IWMI was represented by Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev (IWMI-Central Asia).
IWMI is one of the partners of TEMPUS –EWASIA project, which targets to establish an international Masters program on Environment and Water Management in Central Asia. The Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Amelioration (TIIA) and the Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR) are two major education centers responsible for the project implementation. The University of Vienna, Austria (BAKU) and two other agricultural universities from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are also members of the project consortium. Among other research partners are the IHE- Delft (UNESCO) and UNESCO.
Under this project TIIA in 2004 launched an International MSc Program on environment and water management with a total of 18 students from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan enrolled. IWMI provides support to three MSc interns, who will be conducting research studies for the ADB-funded “Bright Spots” Project lead by IWMI. The outcomes of the research will be supervised jointly by IWMI, WUR and TIIA staff.
The major results of this and other events during his trip to Wageningen Dr.I.Abdullaev has presented to the IWMI-Central Asia staff today during their regular free topic speaking session held on Fridays in Tashkent office. Here are some highlights of those results:
Detailed research programs for IWMI’s three MSc interns were coordinated and approved with co-supervisors from WUR. IWMI was given the role of field research supervision and will sit on the MSc examination board. The writing of the MSc thesis will be jointly supervised by WUR, IWMI and TIIA with the results to be joint output of IWMI, WUR and TIIA;
A double degree between WUR and TIIA was approved, which is a unique experience for both institutes. The interested IWMI researchers will also be able to start participating in the program;
Research partnership was established with WUR’s water engineering group. A representative of this group is due to visit IWMI Central Asia office for more detailed discussions on student and staff exchange later this month;
Good potential for IWMI and WUR collaboration was identified in jointly preparing proposals related to drainage, salinity and water productivity within EU.
IWMI will be also included as a key partner on research for the proposal to the TEMPUS BRIDGE project, which will be starting next year (2007). The role of IWMI will be to come up with research agenda, based on its own research priorities, for 10-15 MSc students annually. The students will be funded through the TEMPUS BRIDGE project.
The GWP-CACENA (Global Wate Partnership for Caucasus and Central Asia) held its scheduled woprkshop "The Finnish Approach to Transboundary Water Management and Integrated Water Resources Management " in Helsinki, Finland on 12-14 June, 2006.
This 3-day event was organized by GWP CACENA together with Finish Environment Institute (SYKE) and with support from MFA of Finland. The participants included GWP CACENA RTAC members as well as high level officials from water and environment sector from across CACENA region which includes three Caucasian countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia; and five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. IWMI-Central Asia was represented by Mr. Ilhom Babaev, who is serving as communications officer for GWP CACENA’s Secretariat.
The workshop aimed at introducing the participants from the CACENA region to the Finnish experiences in trans-boundary and international water management and based on those experiences reviewing the major water management challenges in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Participants exchanged their views on the relevance of the Finnish experience for GWP CACENA and identified areas for potential future cooperation.
Central Asia and Caucasus became member of the GWP family in February 2002 after Regional Conference of Stakeholders in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The CACENA Regional Water Partnership is voluntary participation of organizations involved into water management, use, and conservation (state departments, local and regional organizations, professional associations, scientific and research institutes, as well as private sector and NGOs) in mutually beneficial enrichment of experience, exchange of information, and capacity building.
In accordance with an Agreement between GWP and IWMI, since 2002 IWMI has been a host Institute for GWP CACENA with 2 IWMI staff based in the IWMI-Central Asia office serving for its Secretariat as a communications officer and financial manager.
Earlier this month IFAR, the foundation that fosters scientific excellence in agriculture through awards, collaboration and partnerships, has selected 13 promising scientists from Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia for awards under its 2006 Professional Development Program. The awardees were selected out of a total of 38 qualifying nominations from 10 CGIAR Centers.
Mr. Odil Akbarov, a young scientist from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration (TIIM), Uzbekistan was among the successful grant winners. His application sponsored and submitted through IWMI was positively evaluated by a committee of international experts and was finally endorsed by the IFAR Board. Thus, he was awarded the IFAR-managed Wilfried Thalwitz Scholarship, established in the memory of Mr. Thalwitz, a former CGIAR Chair. The IWMI-sponsored grant winner’s research project is titled “Impact of Land Reform on Salinity in Uzbekistan (Syrdarya River Basin, Syrdarya Province)".
The IFAR Professional Development Program grants are meant to enhance the professional development of young, promising professionals from developing countries. Award winners will spend up to three months working with top class scientists at CGIAR Centers, carrying out research based on results-oriented proposals submitted by them and evaluated by an international Evaluation Committee of experts, as well as by IFAR’s Board of Directors. IFAR works in association with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
An article by a group of scientists from Gulistan State University (Gulistan, Uzbekistan) and IWMI has been published in the most recent issue of International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability (Volume 3, No. 2, 2006). Titled "Remediation of Abandoned Saline Soils Using Glycyrrhiza glabra: A Study from the Hungry Steppes of Central Asia" the article builds upon the experience of the ongoing Bright Spots project and is dedicated to one of the alternative approaches that can be successfully used by resource poor farmers in the degraded farming areas of Central Asia. In the current study the potential use of Glycyrrhiza glabra (common name liquorice) to reclaim abandoned saline areas was assessed over a four year period before being returned to a cotton/wheat crop rotation.
The article is co-authored by Habibjon Kushiev (General Biology Department, Gulistan
State University), Andrew D. Noble (IWMI-SEA), Iskandar Abdullaev (IWMI-Central Asia) and Uktam Toshbekov (Basics of Agriculture Department, Gulistan University).
IWMI-Central Asia office is turning 5 years old today. It was exactly 5 years ago that IWMI started its operations in Central Asia by opening its sub-regional office in Tashkent on 1st May, 2001. This breaking news was brought first thing this morning by Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev, one of only few IWMI-Central Asia old-timers that still remember that remote and remarkable time in our history.
So Here's to Many-Many More Happy Years Return, IWMI-Central Asia!
IWMI-Central Asia held a week-long training for its field SMID staff placed in each of the 3 IWRM-Ferghana project countries - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The training was held from 3 to 7 April, 2005 in the IWMI-Central Asia office in Tashkent and was based on 5 water management modules earlier developed for training WUA staff in Kazakhstan plus a complementary course on business planning for WUAs.
A total of 9 persons with mostly technical backgrounds working on the IWMI field teams in the above listed project countries were selected for the training with the main goal to provide them with required skills so that they could further train inexperienced staff of the multiple newly established WUAs in the countries of the Ferghana Valley. Previous experience of the participants in water engineering disciplines and earlier exposure to major WUA issues in their respective countries during their fieldwork helped create an easy-going and lively learning environment throughout the training.
In particular, the training program consisted of the following core modules:
Organizing Water Distribution amongst member farmers
Water Measurement and Recording
Assessment of Water Management Performance for WUAs
Business-planning for WUAs
Each of the training disciplines was organized into 3 parts: (i) theory of the subject (ii) group work on questions and situations (iii) practical exercises.
The training was organized and conducted by Tashkent-based IWMI research staff including Jusip Kazbekov, Iskandar Abdullaev, Kahramon Jumabaev and Oyture Anarbekov. The training coincided with the CGIAR Steering Committe meeting held in Tashkent from April 5 to 8, 2005. So the training participants were also visited and greeted by Dr. Peter McCornick, IWMI Director for Asia who was also in Tashkent attending the CGIAR meeting.
Next week Uzbekistan is going to host the Ninth Meeting of the Steering Committee of the CGIAR Program for Central Asia and the Caucasus, which will be held on 3-5 April, 2006 in the capital city of Tashkent in "Markaziy" Hotel (former Sheraton).
The event plans to hold 4 sessions consisting of inaugural part, annual report presentation, country-status reports and center-wise reports on collaboration with the CGIAR Program. The meeting is expected to be participated by the leaders, officials and researchers of the following CGIAR Program partners and stakeholders:
Iskandar Abdullaev, an IWMI researcher from the Central Asian office was special guest to one of the Tashkent-based FM radio channels - Uzbekistan FM 103.1. The channel features a 30-minute talk show called “Value the water that flows by” (“Oldingdan oqqan suvni qadrla”, in Uzbek), which is aired live every week on Monday at 13:00 and meant for Uzbek water users associations, farmers and the public at large. In his live interview in the program broadcast on March 27, 2006 Iskandar was speaking on some of the burning issues and problems faced today by water users associations in Uzbekistan, particularly, with regard to water distribution. He spent most of the time discussing the options and opportunities available to tackle major water distributional problems suggesting some simple and effective tools to improve the situation such as the time-based water distribution method, that IWMI-Central Asia has successfully pilot-tested and now widely practices throughout the Ferghana Valley.
This weekly radio show has been launched by the USAID-funded Water Users Association Support Program (WUASP) implemented by Winrock International in order to inform the public at large on Water Users Associations (WUAs) and their importance to Uzbekistan’s long-term irrigation management. The goal of the radio program is to discuss topics related to irrigation and WUAs in Uzbekistan. It was not the first appearance of IWMI in this program. Earlier last year IWMI research officer Kahramon Jumabaev was speaking on the importance of collective action and approaches for nurturing the bottom-up process in WUA development through social mobilization and institutional development.
Mr. Jiri-Xerxes Kraus, an auditor for SDC is currently on mission to Central Asia from February 25 to March 24 to audit the SDC-funded water projects implemented in the region. His main objective is to meet with the stakeholders and beneficiaries of the projects under SDC Water Program. Among the projects under this program the auditor from March 5 to March 9 visited the pilot sites of the IWRM-Ferghana project implemented jointly by IWMI and its project partner SIC-ICWC in 3 Central Asian countries. Since it was an independent inquiry, the auditor preferred to be on his own while visiting the sites in order to get an unbiased picture. For this, during his trip he met with those who represent the newly established user-driven water management organizations in the projects areas at all hydraulic levels – canal management organizations, water users associations, water users groups as well as immediate farmers. In all these, the auditor’s field program was facilitated by the local social mobilization (SMID) teams that IWMI has in each project country in order to upscale the project experiences to the entirety of the concerned pilot canals by catalyzing the required conditions. As reported by local coordinators of the SMID teams the auditor, in overall, was satisfied with whatever he saw or learnt first-hand in the field. So it is much hoped, that his audit findings and judgments to be issued at a somewhat later date will be sufficiently positive to help ensure future funding for this and other similar projects in the region well beyond their completion.
A team from IWMI’s Global Research Division consisting of Mark Giordano, Alexandra Clemett and Nadia Manning were visiting IWMI-Central Asia office from February 23 to March 1, 2006. This visit was organized along the Rural Livelihoods and Water Management in the Ferghana Valley Project – one of the ongoing projects that IWMI leads in Central Asia. The project aims to better understand livelihoods systems and constraints in rural areas in the Ferghana Valley shared by 3 countries – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, so that further interventions by donors and government agencies in livelihoods and water resources management can be better targeted and more effective.
The main purpose of the visit was to provide on-the-spot coordination to further project activities with regard to research methodologies, existing and possible partnerships, expected outputs and final results as well as participate in some field activities and monitor the progress.
One of the partnerships for this project was built with the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Amelioration (TIIA). The visiting IWMI researchers attended some Focus Group Discussions held and led by a survey team from this Institute in the sampled villages of the Ferghana and Andijan provinces. Later in the wrap-up meeting in Tashkent the TIIA team was provided with the constructive feedback and more insights on the research methodology. All this allowed clarifying and improving the overall project design and course of action with further immediate concrete steps to be taken.
Among other things occurred during the visit, the IWMI-Central Asia research staff had an opportunity to get acquainted with the concept of Water Poverty Mapping presented by Mark Giordano. Besides, taking this opportunity the Tashkent-based research staff obtained valuable advice and feedback on some other burning issues, concept notes and ongoing projects.
A series of National Planning Meetings for the ADB-funded project "Enabling farming communities in the Aral Sea Basin to reverse water and land degradation by the creation of "Bright Spots" were held from February 13 to 20, 2006 in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Taraz (Kazakhstan).
The meetings were organized and participated by the three international agricultural research centers implementing the project - the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), and International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). The meetings were also participated by the project’s national partners from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan.
The purpose of the meetings was to review the project results, both technical and organizational, achieved in 2005, as well as to discuss the program and the work plan for 2006.
Most issues during the workshops were discussed using the open space methodology, which enables groups of people to get together, discuss topics, brainstorm ideas, deal with issues, look for solutions, share thoughts and exchange perspectives. Special attention when discussing was paid to the implementation and methodology of research activities, maintaining and updating databases, and providing required equipment and tools to research sites.
Among the key issues discussed throughout the meetings were organizational matters such as knowledge sharing and production of global public goods. Following the completion of the first phase of the project - the set-up of national groups and launch of field activities, it was just right time for all project partners to start discussing how they would go about generating, communicating and sharing the knowledge. This was especially important, because three international research centers and three NARS partners participating in the project have different approaches in generating, sharing and managing the knowledge. So the major goal of the planning meetings along with sharing project experiences was to create greater awareness, rapport and common understanding between all the CG centers and national NARS partners in Central Asia on the knowledge generation, management and sharing platform.
February 5 through 9, 2006 IWMI’s Tashkent office (Central Asia) in Uzbekistan was visited by Dr. Peter McCornick, IWMI Director for Asia.
The purpose of his visit was to get acquainted with the Central Asia office - its staff, activities, the region as a whole, as well as IWMI’s partners and current and potential donor organizations in the region. Among those whom he met were Dr. Bezborodov, In-Charge of Lab Studies, Uzbek Cotton Research Institute and Uzbek NARS coordinator for ADB’s Bright Spots project; Dr. Aslon Mavlonov, Deputy Director-General of Uzbek Hydrogeology Enterprise and National Coordinator for Ground Water in the Syr-Darya River Basin project; prof.Victor Dukhovny, Director of Scientific Information Center, Interstate Commission for Water Coordination in Central Asia (IWMI's partner in implementing the IWRM-Ferghana project). The donor organizations visited included SDC, ADB and JICA.
The 3rd day of the visit was entirely dedicated to clarifying a strategy for IWMI-Central Asia office. The entire exercise was based on IWMI-CA’s SWOT analysis framework presented by Dr. Manthri, Head of IWMI-Central Asia. This allowed clarifying, where IWMI-Central Asia currently stood both within the global IWMI and in the region, given its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. During this teamwork exercise a concept note portfolio was jointly worked out and agreed for this year and beyond with those responsible for preparing each particular concept note and the deadline assigned. All the preliminary concept notes (9-10 in total) proposed for potential projects in the region were sorted out thematically and matched with one of the 4 IWMI themes with most of them falling under Theme I (Basin management). This also allowed clarifying, what other support (mostly, guidance and capacity building for local staff) would be required from HQ to strengthen IWMI’s presence and activities in the region.
A round-table meeting to discuss options for a Joint-Management Agreement for the pilot main Aravan-Akbura Canal (AAC) in Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan was held on February 3, 2006 in the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek. This is the first of the three pilot main canals within the IWRM-Ferghana Project that plans to introduce a wider public participation through initial joint management arrangements between government authorities and a federation of the canal water users.
The event was preceded by a step-wise consultation process that included the development of the draft IMT concept for AAC, which was then peer-reviewed and finalized through wider stakeholders’ consultations. The finalized IMT concept then led to drafting a Joint Management Agreement. The draft Agreement was first prepared by project staff and then improved through consultations with the Peer-review Commission and other key stakeholders at large.
Central in the Agreement is establishing a joint governance body/board consisting of both representatives from all key government bodies concerned as well as water user representatives from agriculture and other sectors. After finalized, this Agreement will be signed by the main two parties - the Osh Province Basin Water Organization and the newly established Union of Canal Water Users Associations along the Aravan-Akbura Canal. The Agreement is expected to be signed very soon in mid-February.
As was earlier scheduled, the 5th annual planning meeting of the IWRM-Ferghana Project was held on January 26 and 27, 2006 in the town of Ferghana in Uzbekistan. It was the 3rd such meeting in a row which was held in this Uzbek town since 2004. Despite that initially every such event was supposed to be annually rotated between each of the project country, i.e. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, this couldn’t be the case due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the town of Ferghana is strategically located right in the center of all the 3 project areas - Osh in Kyrgyzstan, Ferghana in Uzbekistan and Khujand in Tajikistan – making it the shortest point of access for all those involved in the project from all the 3 countries. Secondly, Ferghana is apparently better off in terms of the required facilities available for holding such an event comparing to the other 2 towns such as accommodation, conference hall or non-interrupted power supply (which is also a problem, especially in Tajikistan where power supply during winter time is dramatically restricted to several hours a day). Finally, this also saves the participants quite a time, money, energy as well as required visa formalities when crossing borders of several countries. On top of all this, this time round there was also a weather factor involved. Heavy snowing and avalanches made it impossible for those based in Tashkent including IWMI team to make it to Ferghana as usual using the regular shortest route through the mountain pass Kamchik. So the entire trip that would normally take us some 4-4.5 hours to drive had to be made using a by-pass road via neighboring Tajikistan which took long 9 hours.
The main feature of this year planning workshop was that for the first time in the project history it was held without the involvement of outside moderators. The whole event was moderated by the co-manager of the project from the SIC-ICWC side - Dr. Vadim Sokolov. The workshop was widely participated by all the project stakeholders including donor representatives from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (Mr. Urs Herren, Head of SDC in Bishkek, Kyrgyztsan, Mr. Juerg Krahenbuel, Water Consultant to SDC, Mr.Sanjar Jalalov, Water Projects Manager for SDC etc.), project executing partners in association of IWMI and SIC-ICWC, national, province and field level project coordinators and staff from 3 participating countries and a number of invited guests from local governments (Deputy-Governor of Ferghana Province in Uzbekistan) and similar projects by USAID, JICA, OSCE as well as local NGOs - a 70-strong crowd in total. The keynote addresses were made by the leaders of the both partners in association executing the project - Dr. Manthri of IWMI and Prof. Dukhovny of SIC-ICWC. They summarized the major activities carried out and approaches used since the beginning of the 3rd phase in May, 2005 as well as shared their plans for the upcoming period. This was followed by more detailed presentations by each project component (main canal, WUA, below-WUA as well as national policy levels) made by their relevant team leaders both from SIC side and IWMI side. During the first day most presentations were made by SIC including on Pilot Canals Component by Mr.Nazir Mirzaev, on WUA Component by Mr.Mier Pinkhasov, on Below-WUA Component by Mr. Shuhrat Muhamedjanov. Presentations for National Policy Level Component were made by National Project Coordinators from each country - Mr. Abdibay Jayloobaev (Kyrgyzstan), Mr.A.Tirandozov (Tajikistan) and Mr. Rashid Toshev (Uzbekistan). The presentations by IWMI team were made on the second day. These were “Right Targeting when Planning Water Distribution in WUAs” by Iskandar Abdullaev, “Step-wise IMT Methodology for Pilot Canals” by Murat Yakubov, “Conceptual Framework of IWMI’s Project Activities: 2005 Achievements and 2006 Plans” by Jusipbek Kazbekov and “Institutionalizing Best Practices in Water and Land Productivity: Focus on WUGs ” by Qahramon Jumabaev. All the presentations were based on formal project documents submitted to the Swiss donors (SDC) before the workshop –Progress Report (PR) for 2005 and Yearly Plan of Operations (YPO) for 2006.
Considering the presentations made, SDC in general approved both the PR and YPO allowing project co-mangers another 2-3 weeks to brush and finalize the both documents.
In conclusion, it was once again strongly stressed by the donors that the main task of the 3rd phase is to upscale and disseminate the project achievements and experiences made in the previous phases. Therefore, the focus should be made not on developing or strengthening any particular community-based water organization (such as WUA or WUG), but rather on finding ways to institutionalize the approaches, methodologies and best practices pilot-tested and proved by the project for the widest possible up-take in the project countries.
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