Kate Lazarus, CPWF Mekong

CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food

The Mekong Program – MK5 and MK6

Key characteristicsMK 5

o Coordination.

o Regional hub on water resource management and governance.

o Communications.

Coordination

Coordination of MKs 1-6 Coordination seeks to ensure that the activities

are integrated across CPWF-Mekong projects.Value is added to these projects by:– enhancing and augmenting communications and

networking activities– scaling (up and out) work– Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) – Capacity building.

Key characteristicsMK 5

o Coordination.

o Regional hub on water resource management and governance.

o Communications.

Regional hub for water resource management and governance

• CPWF-Mekong is housed in Naga House in Vientiane. • The building is intended to become a regional hub on water

resources management and governance. • It comprises a ‘knowledge café’, where visiting scholars, thinkers,

development professionals, civil society and/or NGO workers can sit in convivial surroundings, and access free internet and refreshments. – MRC’s Strategic Environmental Assessment team,– A group of Mekong modellers,– A launch of a special issue of the Water Alternatives Journal, among others.

• Offices are presently occupied by CPWF-Mekong, the CSIRO-AusAID Alliance project on ‘Exploring Mekong Futures’, and M-POWER.

• The hub will include an electronic library as part of its initiative, as well as other resources.

Key characteristicsMK 5

o Coordination.

o Regional hub on water resource management and governance.

o Communications.

Communications• Product development: a series of media products, including visual, verbal and

tactile media and, to some extent, written media. • Development of inspiring and innovative non-written media as a powerful

challenge to its projects to think outside of the box, and one with significant impact potential.

– Dialogue Spaces– Listserves (mekong-research@googlegroups.com)– Management of ‘water’ theme on LaoFab– Mekong Film in cooperation with IUCN and Sida/SENSA– State of the Art publication series (summarising technical reports)– Rewriting of Wikipedia information on hydropower in the Mekong -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_River_Basin_Hydropower– News and publication database on www.mekong.waterandfood.org

Key characteristicsMK 6

o Multi-stakeholder platforms.

o Hydropower governance.

Multi-stakeholder Platforms• A conduit back into government agencies and dam development

programs (as well as other agencies)– allowing for transparency and information exchange with CPWF

Mekong;– enabling and strengthening implementation; – to function as a diverse and supportive technical network, serving to

enrich research and implementation, and to benefit from a variety of perspectives.

• To serve as conduits for research results and solutions, translating these into developmental impact. By developing trust and mutual respect among all partners involved in the BDC, this process serves to reinforce the BDC’s impact pathways and improve impact potentials.

MSPs Continued

• 4 Platforms (dam developers, government, technical, civil society)

• County-level Hydropower working groups • The Mekong Hydropower Forum

• Cross-Basin Learning

Key characteristicsMK 6

o Multi-stakeholder platforms.

o Hydropower Governance.

Hydropower Governance• Focuses on introducing and building capacity for the utilization of new

governance tools to advance hydropower governance in the region. • Dialogue and trialling of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment

Protocol (HSAP) tool and environmental flows among others as entry points for debate and discussion on sustainable hydropower tools.

• Phase 1: Dialogues and liaising with the International Hydropower Association to influence the development of the HSAP. Trialling of Section 1 in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hydropower Governance Cont.

• Phase 2: Expansion of activities in China and Laos – Building capacity in China with several hydropower

developers and trialling– Working with Government of Laos on sustainability issues

and trialling

• Work aims to influence the way in which hydropower is designed, developed and managed. We facilitate constructive engagement with and learning of stakeholders about hydropower development issues in the Mekong Region. We expect to see greater update of national, international and transnational sustainable hydropower guidelines and standards.

Thank you for your attention!!

www.waterandfood.org and www.mpowernetwork.org