Its acceptance by the policy making body and by the stakeholders of Water Resource Development (WRD) including the civil society.

The change of paradigm requires to identify – What the changes will be, How they will be realized and Who will execute them.

Integration of water institutions for planning, implementation and maintenance – horizontally with non- water institutions.

Conscious interventions for gender mainstreaming.

Technical innovations that facilitate integrated approach.

Top down efforts need to be integrated /complemented with bottom up initiatives.

To demonstrate the superiority of IWRM in actual experiments as illustration to be emulated.

The above require the research to be directed at the following

On advocacy for IWRM with the state and civil society groups – what are the most effective methods for selling the concept.

Strategies for institutional reform that will accommodate or are required for embedding IWRM – within the state agencies and also at the users end for facilitating the reproduction of the IWRM perspective for WRD at micro and macro levels.

How to use the occasion of change for introducing gender concerns as integral for planning and institutionalizing.

Practical illustration of IWRM by executing pilot projects as part of action research that address the water problem of a geo-hydrological or social unit (village or water shed or city or community etc) as a totality. That is - generation of water availability for domestic and productive uses by all members of the social unit within the available constraints of naturally given water, institutional arrangements for community assessment, planning, execution and distribution of water according to local priorities - particularly ensuring water security for resource poor for drinking/domestic needs. Where self-sufficiency may not be possible due to natural constraints - how to access water from external sources. Comparative research across countries on how objectives of equity, efficiency and sustainability (of WRD) are achieved through integrated water planning facilitated through multi-stakeholder participation and problems therein - would be extremely useful as basis of wider policy formulation. This would generate externalities for the whole community of IWRM professionals by providing insights into the mechanics of operational sing IWRM.