Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has made significant strides in establishing Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) plans, including passing a new Water Code and establishing eight River Basin Organisations (RBOs). The draft National IWRM and Water Efficiency (WE) plan focuses on five key areas for initial attention:

1. Improving Governance
2. Strengthening Institutions
3. Improving Watershed and Ecological Management Information
4. Management and Access
5. Improved Transboundary Water Cooperation.

WGF has supported work by UNDP-Kazakhstan in relation to multi-stakeholder forums and the establishment of RBOs. The full programme has developed a National IWRM Plan, an inter-ministerial working group and raised public awareness. Local administration (akimats) and local councils (maslikhats) are now engaging in the national water plan. Their interest and involvement was generated by public awareness programme combined with the activities surrounding the establishment of RBOs, of which akimats and maslikhats are members.

Some lessons learned:

• Stakeholders can become insecure if taken out of their "comfort zone": Public information campaigns and stakeholder forums assisted in diminishing the number of initial sceptics about developing national IWRM plan, including RBOs.
  
• The importance of planning process and buy-in from key stakeholders: Preparing an early "draft of the draft" proved to be important. It provided a tangible idea for the IWRM Plan on which stakeholders can build their own ideas and more effectively contribute to the Draft National Plan. In Kazakhstan, this took the form of a concept note which made recommendations on the main components and priorities for the National Plan.
  
• Inform the public: A simultaneous public awareness campaign is vital to developing a broad understanding of IWRM and broad support for the preparation and implementation of the national IWRM and WE plans.
  
• Inter-ministerial coordination is critical: An inter-ministerial working group proved vital to the approval and adoption process as it forms a conduit of information between the water management authority and their respective ministers.
  

Partners:  UNDP-Kazakhstan, Ministry of Agriculture, Committee for Water Resources (CWR) and River Basin Organizations (RBOs), Global Water Partnership (GWP)