Oxfam Transboundary Rivers of South Asia TROSA II 2023-2027

Examples of results for the first year of implementation include; Despite shrinking civic space, TROSA partners have found ways to continue cooperation on governing shared water resources. Examples include IUCN-facilitated joint studies by North-East Hill University (Meghalaya, India) and Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (Bangladesh) on climate impacts in the Meghna basin. Further, a continuation of Mahakali Sambad Dialogues process (facilitated by Oxfam in Nepal) that brings together local governments and stakeholders from across the basin and ICIMOD taking up the facilitators role for the Brahmaputra Network and Dialogue engaging civil society and government stakeholders from all countries sharing the Brahmaputra River Basin. The overall number of people engaged in the discussion on water governance is over 11,000. Examples of local actions that are planned to build climate resilience in the long run, include a Community-Based Early Warning System in the Mahakali and Brahmaputra Basins and community-led Erosion Management in the Brahmaputra basin. Women's Empowerment Centres in Nepal received 2 million Nepali Rupees from the local government this first year to implement local actions for climate-resilient livelihoods, which is a sign of local acceptance of the measures taken. CUTS International has initiated a study to identify scopes for transboundary trade through waterways as a means for local livelihood enhancement and adaptation. In the Mahakali basin, Women's Empowerment Centres are practising citizen science, using simple test kits to monitor the water quality of the Mahakali River. They also guide local advocacy for improved water quality by identifying the source of pollution and designing local awareness-raising activities. In Brahmaputra basin, community-to-community knowledge transfer is being facilitated through Nodi boithok (river meetings) as more villages are adopting Bandals a traditional, low-cost and eco-friendly technique for river erosion management. Academic partners in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology published learnings on Bandals in Environmental and Fluid Mechanics journal in October 2023. In the Meghna basin, fisherfolk consultations continue to identify challenges to human rights-compliant river fisheries management, which is expected to lead to larger policy advocacy in the coming period. The Meghna Water Futures Programme (of IUCN) has connected 18 young professionals in the water sector in the countries sharing the basin and trained them in key areas of water cooperation. This led to the creation of the Youth for Meghna (Y4M) network which is now connecting with universities and community organisations on the ground for joint studies and campaigns on water cooperation in the Meghna River Basin. The network has members from Government, Academia, Civil Society and Private Sector making it a platform with a diverse reach. In the coming year, similar initiatives are expected in other basins, at the regional level building on national-level youth networks, and through more partners. Externally, TROSA is facilitating three platforms in three basins, Brahmaputra Dialogue and Network (facilitated by ICIMOD), Meghna Advisory Group Meghna Knowledge Forum Meghna Water Futures (facilitated by IUCN) and Mahakali Sambad (facilitated by Oxfam in Nepal). Each of these platforms are multi-stakeholder (including government & civil society). Apart from these, partners collaboratively participate in regional and global fora related to water to influence participating stakeholders. Three of the regional partners (IUCN, ICIMOD and ADPC) have governments of the countries we work in as their members and that provides the programme with additional influencing opportunities.

The overall objective of the intervention is improved cooperation in governing shared water resources, strengthening resilience to climate change in riparian communities in the transboundary Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river basins. The four expected outcomes are; 1) Strengthened climate-resilient livelihoods of communities living in the transboundary GBM river basins 2) Improved and inclusive management of transboundary river ecosystems and protection of biodiversity across the GBM river basins 3) Strengthened leadership of civil society, especially women, Indigenous People, and youth to influence government and private sector on water governance across and between the transboundary GBM basins 4) Strengthened cooperation, collaboration and accountability across and between the transboundary GBM river basins. The programme will work directly with communities in selected locations within the transboundary GBM river basins across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and also to a lesser extent in Bhutan. The direct target group is approximately 150 000 individuals (50% women) including: - Riparian communities including small holder farmers, fisherfolk, boat-dwellers and people engaged in water or natural -resource-based livelihoods - Civil society organisations representing women, youth, Indigenous communities and livelihood groups, community groups and advocacy forums, and Women Empowerment Centres - Future civil society leaders with focus on women and youth In addition to the direct target groups, the programme will engage with other stakeholders including: - Government and political stakeholders at all levels (local, state/province, national and regional) - Private sector organisations engaged in water and natural resource use and management - Academic and reserach institutions - Media organisations The programme will be implemented by Oxfam at regional and country level in collaboration with six international/regional organisations and nine national and local organisations. Due diligence of a couple of the organisations is still ongoing. The international/regional organisations are: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Consumer Unity and Trust Society International (CUTS), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) where the latter three are new.