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Role of stakeholders in Red River basin for IWRM water security and poverty reduction

Author(s): Pham Thi Bich Ngoc, Anders Hjort-af-Ornas
Pham Thi Bich Ngoc, Anders Hjort-af-Ornas (1) (1) Researcher, Vietnam Institute for Water Resources Research, ngoc_phamthibich2004@yahoo.com and Professor, Department of Water and Environmental Studies, Linkoping universitet, andershiort2004@yahoo.com

Keyword(s): role of stakeholders, Red River basin, water security, poverty reduction

Article:

Poster:

Session: OS5k Local water governance

AbstractIntroduction
After several years of

implementation and assessment an integrative methodology has been developed. It comprises interplay between local

specific knowledge and universal technical experience. The case presented is the Second Red River Basin Sector

Project, Vietnam (1). This basin covers 25 provinces with 25 million inhabitants. The study accounts for the

process, and claims that the approach has wide applications.

Objective
Two stakeholder processes

combine; first province levels upwards towards sub-basin and national participation, and thereafter province level

downwards in scale through selected districts into local community involvement. Priority water sub-sectors in an

IWRM context, inherent problems and possible solutions were recorded at province, sub-basin and national levels

through a series of consensus building workshops. After that stakeholders have involved locally in a process of water

sub-sector planning in the priority four water sub-sectors.

The objective behind the gradual and open process

has been to build consensus over resource allocation in the individual case of Red River basin. The study objective is

to account for the key roles of stakeholders in this process.

Method
The facilitation process allowed

stakeholders and their respective experience to interact in a transparent way, by building capacity and awareness,

and by setting up a rigid interaction process with decisions taken stepwise. The method allowed even reaching

consensus in highly resource competitive situations. Workshops, seminars, SWOT analyses, and deep interviews

were prime elements in the facilitation methodology.

Results
The process of water sector planning that was

developed and implemented proved successful beyond expectation, given the scale. The first stakeholder

involvement process successfully set up a procedure in consensus with all provinces. This was achieved in province

level workshops, clustering their results into five sub-basins workshops, in turn interacting for consensus over

priorities, until finally stakeholder interaction with national level administration concluded findings; that priority issues

are irrigation agriculture, flood control, and water supply & sanitation.

The output from this interaction process

was taken as starting point for next process; going stepwise within two selected provinces into smaller sub-basins

until finally reaching commune and village levels. Throughout, all relevant stakeholders were represented, building

capacity to report back, so that informed decision-making could take place over priorities. In this second process,

the result was to identify and rank a list of potential sub-projects for investment.

Active involvement by

stakeholders took place in three main streams, meeting with consensus building over priorities. Local authorities as

well as province, district and commune/village levels water users thereby set up two informed decision-making

processes, drawing on technical experts’ specialized assessments. The facilitation process in the case study project

has lessons for institutional and local community involvement through carefully structured stakeholder

interaction.

Conclusions
The study shows (i) a participatory investment planning process in IWRM has

broad applications; (ii) selection of potential sub-projects, designed and agreed upon in cooperation with

stakeholders, can be made through a transparent method for shared responsibility, (iii) the process generates

awareness raising and capacity building as a result of the informed decision-making process.

Notes
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1. The project is financed over a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with parallel

co-financing from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and a grant from the Netherlands’ Government

(GON). Executing Agency (EA) for the project are the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)

and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE)

Events

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Programme

Practical Infos

Role of stakeholders in Red River basin for IWRM water security and poverty reduction