Research for Change

Kim Geheb, Regional Coordinator

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems

Greater Mekong Program

To improve the governance and management of water resources and associated land and ecosystems in the Greater Mekong Region by generating and sharing the knowledge and practice needed to do so.

What we’re aiming for: goal

What we’re aiming for: outcomes

Water Governance: Negotiations and decisions about water-related policies, institutions and practices are more inclusive, informed and accountable.River Health: River management decisions will be informed and strengthened by regionally-appropriate, equitable, river health frameworks, data collection and monitoring systems.

River Food Systems: Decisions on locating, designing and operating water infrastructure are improved with evidence of the impacts and opportunities they create for river food systems, both now and in the future.Healthy Landscapes & Ecosystems: Large-scale land use management decisions and investments will employ landscape planning and management methods that take into account riverine ecosystem services with a focus on river health, water supply, aquatic ecosystems and impacts on local livelihoods and development.

Capacity building & Professional Development: Organizations and individuals have knowledge and skills to more constructively engage in water-related governance, management, monitoring and research.

GenderUnderstanding how infrastructural development is experienced by men and women differently, and to help developers ensure their projects minimise harm, and potentially, how they can play a positive role in addressing gender inequality

“

• How is water governed in the four basins (actors, influence, formal and informal institutions, current results, and political-economy perspectives)?

• What does ‘river health’ mean in the Greater Mekong, and what are its indicators?

• In what ways will the development of the Greater Mekong’s water resources affect the ways in which food is produced, distributed and consumed amongst men, women and children?

• How do large-scale landscape interventions impact access to water for women and other indigenous groups?

Sample research questions

Projects

7 Projects

3 Projects

3 Projects

2 Projects

Water Governance: 3

River Health: 4

River Food Systems: 1

Healthy Landscapes & Ecosystems: 3

Capacity building & Professional Development: 4

77 Partners

Capacity Building and Professional Development

I1 I2 I3 I4Baseline + Indicators

Water Gover-nance

Healthy Rivers

River Food

Systems

Healthy land-

scapes & eco-

systems

O1 O2 O3 O4 Outcomes

Cluster 5

Coor

dina

tion

& C

hang

e Communications

Networking & Partnerships

Direction Opportunity-seeking/seizing

ForaDeliberation

Reflection

Intelligence gathering

Adaptive management Knowledge brokering

Areas of value (1)

Research for developmentResearch which addresses

discrete developmental challenges, and which are

supported by programmatic strategies to deliver its outputs

into change.

Areas of value (2)

Partnerships & NetworksBy partnering with developing country agencies, we reduce overall research costs, reduce overheads, and increase the

likelihood of impact.

Areas of value(3)

Partnerships & NetworksBy partnering with developing country agencies, we improve our partnership profiles, and

therefore increase the likelihood of future funding.

Funding

Opportunity Challenge

DFAT post 2018 DFAT annoyance at WLE’s truncation and budget cuts.

SIDA Regional strategy keeps changing.

NORAD Unclear and exclusively Myanmar.

SDC Regional water investments MRC-exclusive.

Netherlands Very Myanmar exclusive and biased in favour of Dutch agencies.

DFID Myanmar exclusive.

Programme integration

IntegrationThe degree to which projects contribute to programmatic

outcomes

Working with Flagships

• Transboundary Water Management: Cooperation Triggers and Performance Benchmarks (IWMI).

• Four Basin Gender Profiles (IWMI).• Optimizing water resource development for poverty

alleviation: combining Green (natural) and Grey (built) infrastructure (IWMI).

• Harmonizing the water–energy–environment nexus though trade-off analysis and mitigation strategies for fisheries and aquatic resources (WorldFish).

• Informing the design of fish passes in the Mekong (WorldFish).

• Creating wetlands to improve reservoir fisheries (IWMI).• A generic ABM framework for complex ecosystem service

analyses in WLE focal regions (IFPRI).• The irrigation-hydropower nexus in the Ganges

headwaters.

Working with other initiatives

Mekong Partnership for the Environment (PACT/USAID).

Lower Mekong Public Policy Initiative (Fulbright School/USAID).

Mekong Inclusion Project (Oxfam/DFAT).

Brightspots

Increasing engagement with China. The Forum. Continuous engagement with stakeholders. Funding opportunities. Regional endorsements. Continued promotion of CPWF product.

Hot spots

CGIAR fund reductions. Roll over restrictions. Staggered project timelines.

Thank you for listening

https://wle-mekong.cgiar.org