This presentation is the part of 12-day (28 January–8 February 2019) training workshop on “Multi-scale Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) from the Hindu Kush Himalayan Perspective” organized by the Strengthening Water Resources Management in Afghanistan (SWaRMA) Initiative of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and targeted at participants from Afghanistan.

1. Strengthening Water Resources Management in
Afghanistan (SWaRMA)
Training Workshop on Multi-scale Integrated River Basin Management from a HKH perspective
Module 4: Governance, policy and institutional framework

2. 1. Introduction to river basin
governance

3. What is
‘governance’? And
what is ‘good
governance’?
• Governance: “…a suite of
decision processes in natural
resources management within
the basin and external to the
basin which impact on the
basin’s natural resources
management.” (Hooper, 2005)
• Good governance: involves
the following elements –
• Transparency
• Integrity
• Predictability
• Accountability
• Legitimacy
Conceptual framework for multi-scalar, multi-dimensional governance
Source: Ojha et al, 2019 - Governance chapter in HIMAP Report

4. ‘River basin’ as a
resource unit of
governance
• The scale issue
• The integration challenge
• The uncertainty conundrum
Source: Cash et al. 2006. Ecology and Society 11(2)

5. Changing paradigm
of water resources
governance
• More decentralized focus and
greater emphasis on demand side
management
• Multi-disciplinary cadres
• More accommodative of civil
society participation
Conceptual model illustrating the general trend of change in approach
to WRM
Source: Turton et al, 2007

6. Exercise 1: the water governance menu
Activities Always Sometimes Never
Policy-making and law-making and their implementation
Developing a long-term framework for water resources and services
Setting a strategy and priorities
Budgeting and fiscal transfer
Regulating water resources and services
Monitoring public and private service providers
Economic regulation (setting water fees)
Monitoring water permits and their implementation
Protecting ecosystems
Monitoring and enforcing water services standards
Applying incentives and sanctions
Organizing and building capacity in water
Building awareness of water issues and priorities
Developing and utilizing skilled water professionals
Tendering and procurement
Facilitating coordinated decision-making
Planning
Collecting, managing, storing, sharing and utilizing water-relevant data
Projecting future supply and demand for water
Designing strategies for long-term planning of water resources
Developing planning and management tools
Facilitating stakeholder participation
Developing and managing water resources and delivering services
Constructing public infrastructure and authorizing private sector infrastructure development
Operating and maintaining infrastructure
Forecasting and managing the effects of floods and droughts
Tendering and procurement
Organizing water services delivery
Organizing stakeholder participation
Treating wastewater
Monitoring and evaluation
• Functions/activities
related to water
governance (Source:
Jacobson et al, 2013)
• Individual exercise
sheets, compiled in the
end to form sub-groups
of participants under
major governance roles
• 10 minutes

7. Governance needs of IRBM
1. Basin-wide planning. Need to balance all user needs for
water, both in present and future, and to incorporate spatial
developments; special attention to vital human and ecosystem
needs
2. Participation in decision-making. Need to ensure local
empowerment and stakeholder participation in decision-making
3. Demand management. Need to be part of sustainable water
management
4. Compliance. Need for compliance monitoring and
assessment of commitments under river basin agreements and
arrangements
5. Human and financial capacities. Need for long-term
development of sufficient human and financial capacity
Source: abridged from Anonymous (1999) cited in Hooper (2005)

8. Exercise 2: IRBM problem analysis
PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSES SOLUTIONS • Participants can form sub-
groups as per their own
assessed governance roles
(from Exercise 1)
• To identify 3 major
challenges/problems and
the possible causes
• 15 minutes + 5 minutes to
compile and cluster
challenges under
‘complexity’, ‘ambiguity’,
and ‘uncertainty’
• 10 minutes to identify
solutions

9. PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSES REMEDIES
Inflexible planning process and
overambitious in what is sought
High ideals of constituents; ignorance of resource use potential and
constraints
Use a stepped approach; do what is achievable first
Lack of baseline data and monitoring
Scarcity of funds, trained personnel, institutional difficulties, harsh
environment
Better simulation modelling
Assumptions Planning is based on false assumptions
Better supervision of the planning process; put an adaptable and flexible planning processes
in place
Planners and managers attempt to solve
complex, ‘wicked’ problems by using
one-dimensional solutions
Lack of interdisciplinary training, inability of managers and leaders to think
across disciplinary boundaries
Sensitive, multidisciplinary study adapted to local and or regional needs; flexible adaptive
approaches to cope with unforeseen problems; community participation to try and ensure
administrators are accountable and heed people’s needs
Ignoring downstream impacts of
upstream activities—produces
inequitable outcomes
Decision-making across the basin is not coordinated and little
communication between key decision processes
Need for better integration of traditional users with current and proposed RBM activities
BOOT (build-operateoversee-transfer)
method of development precludes local
ownership
The legal permitting and environmental impact assessment procedures (if
used) do not permit input from constituents beyond those in the planning
process (often dominated by government development agencies and
contracted construction companies)
Need for local training and capacity building during construction phase of project
development; improved use of environmental impact assessment
Negative economic and social impacts of
river basin management and
development planning
Watered-down or sidestepped EIA of basin development activities
Accountability procedures for RBM organisation’s plans; integrate impact assessment with
planning procedures
Developing country priorities differ from
those of developed countries
A large informal water sector exists; tropical and subtropical/monsoonal
hydrology differs from temperate region hydrology; managing rainfall where
it falls is the key to water management rather than ‘managed’ water;
institutional change does not comes through ‘western’ models of
institutional reform
River basin management plans driven by bottom up water sector initiatives with strong NGO
and village level management; water harvesting in wet seasons and efficient storage for dry
seasons; institutional reform through stronger high level ownership of water management
and using ‘water champions’ in government, NGOs and the informal sector; donor agencies
sensitised to these approaches; capacity building of government agency staff in IWRM
Lack of a power base of the RBO and
failure to do more for than advise
Lack of ongoing political and administrative support; no sustained funding
base
Ensure the RBO is enshrined in legislation, has ongoing funding commitment and line
responsibility to the highest level of government
RBOs with power drift into bureaucracy
building and corruption, once given
power and financial autonomy
Lack of accountability
Ensure the RBO answers to the highest level of government; provide an independent auditing
service/review process
Failure to control/manage/influence the
entire river basin area
Lack of legal jurisdiction, inability to ‘tax’ one end of the basin to ‘pay for’
problem remediation and development elsewhere
Ensure a process of equitable funding is in place and is externally arbitrated; provide a
community advisory council to provide independent advice to the RBO
Border conflict
RBM unable to manage cross government jurisdictions within countries and
across international borders; poor communication about resource
management and development issues and information
Ensure regular, frequent co-riparian exchanges of data and views; use a common language
despite ethnic differences; improved ability to solve problems using conflict resolution
mechanisms
Resources controlled by a range of
entities and coordination too great a
problem, especially at a basin scale
Poor institutional development at set up or during the development stage of
the RBO
Flatter organisational structures provide better ability to coordinate than steeply hierarchical
structures

10. Governance
decision tree
• From Klinke and Renn (2011)
• To be discussed with reference
to problems and solutions
identified by participants in
Exercise 2

11. 2. Afghanistan’s policy and
institutional context for
water sector
A presentation by Mr. Mohammad Nasim Noori

12. 3. Adaptive governance
and its relevance to IRBM

13. Principles of river basin governance
• Engagement of and ownership by relevant decision makers
• Improved river basin management design
• Application of diverse institutional arrangements
• Clear definition of the role of the RBOs
• Strong river basin advocacy
• Prioritizing actions
• Accountability
• Local government partnerships for effective implementation
• Integrating functions for coordinated river basin management

14. Adaptive governance
“Institutional and political frameworks designed to adapt to
changing relationships between society and ecosystems in
ways that sustain ecosystem services; expands the focus
from adaptive management of ecosystems to address the
broader social contexts that enable ecosystem-based
management.”
(https://www.resalliance.org/glossary )

15. The development of river basins in
Afghanistan
Stage 1: development Stage 2: utilization Stage 3: reallocation
Allocated flow, % Low 0 - 40 Medium 40 - 70 High 70 - 100
Dominant activity Construction: supply and
storage infrastructure
Managing supply Managing demand
Value of water Low Increasing High
Groundwater Development Conjunctive use Regulation
Conflicts Few Within the subsector Cross-sectoral
Typical institutional tasks Construction: planning
and implementation
Operation, maintenance,
expansion and
rehabilitation
Intersectoral planning
Based by allocated flow Panj-Amu
Kabul Indus
Harirod-Murghab
Helmand
Northern
Source: Adapted from Molden (2005)

16. Approach to adaptive governance
• Shift away from exclusive control by hierarchical organizations
of government and instead toward a more diffuse
governance of resources through the activation of cross-scale
and cross-level networks.
• Transitions toward adaptive governance are facilitated by
high levels of adaptive capacity
• Increased capacity in governance networks may include (1) increased
capacity to learn, experiment, and innovate, (2) strengthened trust,
communication and knowledge sharing, and (3) inclusion of new
subgroups
• Characteristics of networks – polycentricity, trust,
communication, collaboration, learning, participation –
contribute to adaptive capacity of a governance system
Source: Chaffin et al, 2016

17. Social Network Analysis as a tool
SNA provides mathematical tools to evaluate network
structure in terms of nodes (actors, organizations, events)
and ties (linkages between nodes)
• useful to assess relative position, power, influence, and legitimacy
among nodes involved in governance
• Some of the SNA metrics can be used to characterize aspects of
adaptive capacity in governance networks

18. Group Exercise: applying SNA to
IWRM in Afghanistan

19. The initial (planned) stage

20. 3. River Basin Management
Game

21. Steps Duration
Introduction Introduction to the aim of the game 10 min
Round 1 Organization of the participants into teams 5 min
Assessing the links between stakeholders 10 min
Instructions for Round 1 by the trainer 5 min
Development of the investment plan 30 min
Presentation of investment decisions by the teams (sub-groups) 15 min
Break Transition to Round 2
Round 2 Instruction to Round 2 by the trainer 5 min
Development of a new stakeholder configuration 15 min
Development of the new (integrated) plan 30 min
Presentation of investment decisions by the teams 15 min
Source: IHE Delft, 2017

22. References
Anonymous. 1999, River Basin Management and Planning: Keynote Paper for International Workshop on River Basin
Management. Delft, The Netherlands, RBA TU Delft.
Cash, D. W., W. Adger, F. Berkes, P. Garden, L. Lebel, P. Olsson, … Young. (2006). Scale and Cross-Scale Dynamics:
Governance and Information in a Multilevel World. Ecology and Society, 11(2).
Chaffin, B. C., Garmestani, A. S., Gosnell, H., & Craig, R. K. (2016). Institutional networks and adaptive water governance in
the Klamath River Basin, USA. Environmental Science and Policy, 57, 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.11.008
Hooper, B. P. (2005). Integrated River Basin Governance: Learning from International Experiences. London: IWA Publishing.
IHE Delft (2017). A role-playing game for practising stakeholder collaboration in Water Safety Plans: Trainer’s guidance
manual. BEWOP Project.
Jacobson, M., Meyer, F., Oia, I., Redyy, P., & Tropp, H. (2013). User’s Guide on Assessing Water Governance. Oslo.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2463728.2463850
Klinke, A., & Renn, O. (2012). Adaptive and integrative governance on risk and uncertainty. Journal of Risk Research, 15(3),
273–292. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2011.636838
Molden, D., Sakthivadivel, R., Samad, M. & Burton, M. (2005). Phases of river basin development: the need for adaptive
insti- tutions. In: Irrigation and River Basin Management: Options for Governance and Institutions. Svendsen, Mark (ed.).
CABI; IWMI, Wallingford, UK; Colombo, Sri Lanka, pp. 19–29.
Ojha, H.R., Ghate, R. Dorji, L. et.al. (2019) Governance: Key for Environmental Sustainability in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. In:
P. Wester, A. Mishra, A. Mukherji, A.B. Shrestha (eds) The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment – Mountains, Climate Change,
Sustainability and People. SpringerNature, Dordrecht.
Turton, AR, Hattingh, J, Maree, GA, Roux DJ, Claassen M, Strydom WF, 2007 ‘Governance as a Trialogue: Government-
Society- Science in Transition’, Water Resources Development and Management Series, ISBN-10 3-540-46265-1, Springer-
Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

23. RIVER BASINS & CRYOSPHERE 23
Thank you