Session 4
This session focused on the Water Management system existing in the urban sector and the focus of CB in the urban context. It was emphasized during the discussion that the CB efforts are to be focused to all the categories of stakeholders.

The CapNet India was launched officially. The dignitaries present during theoccasion included Sri. Ramaswamy Iyer, Secretary (Retd.), MOWR & Mr. Lalith Patra, APO, Unicef Mr. Lalith Patra in his launch speech raised some concerns regarding the Networks. He cautioned the group that there is a mushroom growth of networks that met with premature   deaths   due   to

lack of direction & proper coordination. He appreciated the efforts that are being made to bring together the various networks & assured all possible support to make the networks more vibrant & active. Sri. Ramaswamy Iyer extended his warm wishes to the CapNet India & reserved his valuable inputs for the next day.

Mr. Ramaswamy Iyer enlightened the group by throwing some crucial issues that has to be deliberated during the course of the programme and thereafter. We are talking about “capacity-building for IWRM”. What is this IWRM? Whose capacity are we seeking to build? What kind of capacity? These are the preliminary queries to be answered before translating the efforts into action. (Ref. Annexure  2

for more details) Following Prof. Ramaswamy Iyer’s address, Dr. J asveen Jairath shared her apprehensions about the popular understanding of IWRM on the following grounds:

One, the more mainstream depiction of IWRM presents water as a politically neutral entity. This appears to be unrealistic as water is a contentious issue with conflicting/competing interests by differential interest groups that get articulated in the political arena. A typical managerial approach to WRD considers alternative management scenarios as a panacea for the observed lapses. While mismanagement may partly account for poor performance of water projects – issues of monopolistic control over resources and resulting inequities in accessing the outputs are left beyond the pale of consideration. Exclusion of marginalized constituencies from the decision-making process remains extant in proposed solutions. This implies that in actuality pro-active efforts may be required to bring on board the representation of that segment of society who ‘get’ systematically marginalized as a result of socially instituted discrimination. 

Although notions of ‘decentralization’ are deliberated upon and accepted as an avenue to accommodate the phenomenon of diverse interest representation, as noted above – it is understood more as an administrative and managerial decentralization that need to be distinguished from political decentralization. While the latter implies a control over decisions that enable effective control over resources – the managerial decentralization can go hand in hand with a high degree of political centralization – where the decisions (that reflect partial interests of those who monopolize control over natural resources)- are centralized but their implementation/execution maybe taken up in the periphery of a water scheme in an apparently autonomous manner.

The challenge for capacity building for IWRM then would be to develop the negotiating capacities and skills of those left out of the process of official understanding, designing and executing actions for water resources so as to incorporate their agenda, interest and representation in the overall action plan.

Gender dimension
Worst affected in the scenario of political neutrality are the poor women. In fact they suffer from the reinforced exclusion, not only from the natural resources such as water, but also and added on to it - is the gender based exclusion. There is a strong need for re-conceptualizing the politics, economics and technology of water from the perspective of the weakest in the social ladder, i.e., poor women. This is crucial for greater effectiveness of the strategy for gender mainstreaming or gender sensitization of the entire process of understanding, conceptualizing and practice of water. There is thus a pressing requirement for CB for more pro-poor water understanding that is at the same time a CB for imbibing a gender sensitive water view.

Dr. Jairath, then proceeded to present Dr. Atem Ramsunder Singh’s message (Ref Annexture 4).

This was the issue discussed during the session. The facilitator presented a brief outline of IWMI and its research activities. The key concern raised by the participants during the session was with respect to the translation of IWMI Research findings into action by the community. During the course of discussion, it was agreed upon that more emphasis would be given to outreach initiatives through action researches. Also there was a felt need that the strategy has to be redesigned at the IWMI level to give more thrust to the community oriented research initiatives.

Session 10
The session was more focused on the concept of Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) approach and it was presented before the participants through a case study of Uttan. Also the focus was on how the WSSCC could associate with CB Networks for IWRM in promoting the WASH concept.

Session 11
The respective Country Coordinators presented a brief status of CapNet activities that have been initiated in their respective countries. It gave an overall picture of what is happening at the Country level and also some indications were given with respect to the future course of action. 

Prof. Nimal Gunawardena, Coordinator, CapNet Sri Lanka explained that the CapNet activity was launched on 4th October 2003. He reported that there exists very good coordination between the Sri Lanka Water Partnership and the CapNet. They were supporting financially also. The future plan of action would be designed in consultation with the Core Group members. He also explained about the proposed regional ToT. Another point shared by Prof. Nimal was that Ms. Kusum of WWN, SL would be co-opted as a member of the CapNet SL.

Mr. Khalid Hussain, Coordinator, CapNet Pakistan briefed about the launch of CapNet Pakistan on 29th October 2004. There are 9 Core Group members. The CapNet Pakistan has got secretarial support from CapNet Global and also some seed money to conduct the opportunity assessment (OA) for identifying CB for IWRM. It was reported that the OA is in progress and the detailed action plan for the CapNet Pakistan would be designed once it is completed in consultation with the CG. 

Dr. Atique Rahman, Coordinator, CapNet Bangladesh explained the status of CapNet initiatives in Bangladesh. It was launched on 20th March 2004. He shared with the group that the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and Integrated Water and Flood Management (IWFM) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) worked together for launching Bangladesh Chapter of CapNet to facilitate and promoting interdisciplinary approaches to conceptualizing, planning and implementing water resource development in the country. Also, he reported that they have planned to conduct an Opportunity Assessment for preparing the plan of action for CapNet Bangladesh.

Mr. Kanchan M. Dixit who represented CapNet Nepal was so much enthused because they were able to ensure participation of all the stakeholders in the CapNet Nepal launch held on 25th March 2004. A core-group of eight organizations were set up to operate the network. The core-group members include, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF), Department of Electricity Development (DED), Department of Irrigation (DOI), Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC), National Federation of Irrigation Water Users Association, Nepal (NFIWUAN), Federation of Community Forest Users Groups, Nepal (FECOFUN), Federation of Water and Energy Users Association (WAFED), and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Dr. Jayakumar, Coordinator, CapNet India briefed that a defined action plan would be worked out in consultation with the Core Group members. More focus would be given to membership strengthening. 

Session 12
National IWRM Plans and MDG: This session was characterized by the understanding of IWRM Plans in the South Asian region and the relevance of capacity building for taking it further. This gave some lead for focusing the CB for IWRM. The status of IWRM Plans in various South Asian countries were presented and it was shared that the Governments are showing varied interest in taking forward the IWRM approaches.

Session 13
This laid the foundation for the Action Plan preparation by the respective countries to take forward the CapNet activities. The Action Plan framework was analyzed prioritizing the key actions - network management, membership strengthening, delivering capacity building and funding and responsibility sharing at regional or country level. It was agreed during the end of the session that detailed Action plans would be prepared by the respective Country Coordinators in consultation with their Core Group members.

There was also a side meeting of the Country coordinators along with Regional coordinator, Dr. Jasveen Jairath and Kees Leendertse.

Session 14
Regional ToT Discussion: Prof. Nimal Gunawardena of Sri Lanka briefed the participants about the proposed one-week training of trainers for the participants of the South Asian region in line with the Global ToT. The proposal was discussed in detail and it was agreed that the Country CapNets would provide necessary support for finalizing the participants and CapNet Global would extend the financial support to some extent and more resources to be mobilized.

Session 15
Working Guidelines: The modified draft of the Working Guidelines, which was finalized by the Working Group, was presented to the participants; the major points were with respect to the tenure of Core Group Members as well as the Country Coordinator. It was agreed that it would be on a rotation basis with various options. Another crucial point that had a consensus was the constitution of a Regional Advisory Board (RAB) to provide advisory support to CapNet SA at the regional level. Another point that was agreed upon among the group was that the CapNet South Asia would hand over the existing CapNet membership list to the respective Country Coordinators and more members would be added to this preliminary list and the additions would be intimated to the regional secretariat for information and updation of the records. It was approved provisionally and agreed that the changes would be incorporated in the document and would be circulated to all for their comments before it is finalized. 

Session 16
The concluding session was graced by the presence of Mr. Bhavanishanker, Convener (South India), IWP. He shared his experience in the water sector focusing on the interlinking of rivers and the IWP activities in India.