Achieved Results of Phase II.

The first result - the IWRM conceptual basis has been developed and presented to the republican water management organizations; it considers the hydrological boundaries, participation of all stakeholders and the principles of democratic management. The IWRM concept was approved by and agreed with the water management departments in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on May 16, 2003. The detailed explanation of the concept is given in the Chapter (Section) 1 of the present report.

The second result - the comprehensive approach to the social mobilization (explanation of the IWRM principles) has been developed. The training program for the social mobilization and institutional development at the WUA and canal levels has been prepared. The regular training workshops and social surveys, organized by the project provide new opportunities for involvement of the wide masses of population into the reform in the water sector in the Fergana Valley. The new water users associations  were created by the project (WUA «Akbarabad» on the South Fergana Canal in Uzbekistan, WUA «Kerme-Too - Akburasai» on the Aravan-Akbura Canal in Kyrgyzstan and WUA «Obi-Zeravshan» on the Khodja-Bakirgan Canal in Tajikistan).

The newly created WUAs were registered in compliance with the legislation, and the Governance Boards of these WUAs have sighed the agreements on joint management with corresponding authorities in the beginning of 2003. Besides, the project has hold a number of additional trainings “How to create a WUA through the social mobilization” for the district organizations by request of the MAWR of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The third result (institutional development) - the ICWC Training Center Branch was established in the Osh city. The Center staff has got necessary trainings and the work plan was prepared. From July, 2002, the project planned and additional training workshops for the employees of the water management organizations and water users, NGOs from the Fergana Valley are held in the TC Branch every month. The special attention is given to wide dissemination of the IWRM ideology. The communication network on the basis of the e-mails among all the key project participants was developed and created (SIC ICWC – republican departments – province water management organizations, pilot canals and WUAs). The project has created the on-line Information system (including Database, the mathematic model system and the GIS), which is a powerful tool for planning, operative analysis and improvement of the water allocation process and the real water distribution.

The forth result - the alternative organizational structures of water management on the WUA and canal levels have been defined, discussed and agreed amongst the project partners and the other stakeholders. On the basis of these agreements, the water management departments of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have created new organizations – Canal Management Organizations for the Aravan-Akbura Canal in Kyrgyzstan, for the Khodja-Bakirgan Canal in Tajikistan and for the South Ferghana Canal in Uzbekistan. In December 2003, there were constituent assemblies where the Canal Water Committees for every of three pilot canals (CWC) were created. In 2004, the CWC have proved their useful role.

 In the future activities for the institutional reforms, it is necessary to identify the necessity of functioning of the intermediate organizations – a number of basin organizations and the province water management organizations. These are the first steps for improving the planning process, accounting and reporting, water use control on every level of the new water management hierarchy. The real factor in transition to the IWRM is the participation of the community representatives in the management process and this also should be legally registered.  It is proposed that it will take place on all levels of the water management hierarchy – by creation of the Water Committees (or the Union of water users). A lot of technical aspects are also dependant on the communities. To provide a guaranteed and fair water distribution along the whole system of water delivery is not an easy task. If water is delivered in a specific volume, with consideration of needed quality and specific time, water and land productivity improvement can be expected. The water users themselves should participate in identification of command areas of every canal, assessment of the water demand and counting all water sources (ground water, return flows). Their functions are the correction of water use depending on weather and farm conditions, assistance to water rotation, water delivery and water distribution, improvement of hydro measurement and water accounting at all level of the water management system. To find the solutions to the coming questions, it is necessary to create extension services for giving consultation to water users related to introduce new technologies, advanced production methods, planning and resolution of water allocation issues. The project has developed and disseminated “The typical resolution on Canal Water Committee” for implementation, as well as recommendations for application of these resolutions on every of three pilot canals.

The fifth result - it has been clear that the current legislation basis of the countries in the region cannot support the necessary changes in the water sector, and therefore the project has prepared and sent the recommendations for required changes to all water management organizations of the countries. The laws should identify the role and responsibility of the government, water management organizations and water users related to use, conservation and development of water resources. There is a necessity of clear definition of social, economic and ecologic value of water in the legislation, as well as the water right, the role of associations of water users, the rules of coordination amongst the sectors. For example, there is a necessity to  regulate the water management organizations with the environmental organizations, agriculture, local authorities. The financial mechanism in water sector should also get a clear legal regulation. The project gives big attention to the aspects of conflict resolution on the WUA and canal levels – the social surveys were carried out and recommendations were prepared and a number of workshops were hold locally on the basis of these recommendations.

The sixth result - is the technical assistance for checking and additional installment of water measurement devices on the pilot canals by the Project, and enormous work has been done to install water measurement system on the pilot WUAs’ area. This has enabled the appropriate water accounting along the pilot canals within the WUAs, making the process of water distribution more transparent. The water measurement devices were manufactured and certified mainly in the Regional Metrological Center of ICWC in Bishkek with the assistance of the SANIIRI. The project launched the real-time process of water delivery on the pilot canals on the pilot WUAs’ area in the form of planned schedule of water distribution and its monitoring during the vegetation period on the basis of water users’ applications with consideration of climatic conditions. This is the first step to equal and fair water distribution as well as an attempt to reduce unproductive water losses. The results of this work in details are covered by sections 2 and 3 of the present report.

The seventh result - the registration/passportisation of demonstration fields on the area of pilot farms has allowed to create a tool for farmers to analyze their reserves and potential for water and land productivity improvement. The testing is carried out in real time. This is a tool for prognosis of water use, depending on weather conditions, and it is supposed for upscaling in the next project phase. The analysis shows that land and water productivity has been improved in 9 out of 10 pilot. The productivity decreased on one of the pilot fields, located on the South Fergana Canal command area, where the farmer did not follow the project recommendations. The details of these results are given in section 4 of the present report. A lot of women are involved into discussions for managing the water and land productivity and other problems of water management in the Fergana Valley. For example, approximately 60 women actively participated in one of the project workshops related to water productivity, held in the WUA “Akbarabad” on September 15, 2003. Due to this work, a basis for wide introduction of the extension services for farmers of the Fergana Valley has been created.

The eight result – is a quite clear governance and control of project activities by the partners with regular coordination by SDC – from 2003, the coordination meetings of managers and SDC collaborators have been held every month. During these meetings, the problematic issues on carrying out the activities have been efficiently resolved and, the most important thing is that there has been always consensus in methods and approaches to implementation of these or those IWRM aspects. The project gave much attention to regular publications of the materials and dissemination of information related to project activities through mass media. The project has a full right to acknowledge the fact that due to wide propaganda of the IWRM ideology, the Government of Uzbekistan has decided to reorganize water management by hydrological principle – the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On improvement of management in the water sector", № 320, dated July 21, 2003.