Oxfam Transboundary Water Governance TROSA 2016-2022

The program was implemented in Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) basin in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and Salween Basin in Myanmar and Thailand. Partner organisations include Oxfam in Bangladesh, Oxfam India, Oxfam in Myanmar and Oxfam in Nepal, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), International Rivers (IR) International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International. 11 national partners was also part of the program. Examples of key achievements from the five year program TROSA I are: Strengthened community voices in water governance: the programme engaged with alliances across civil society, academic and public science institutions and the private sector to strengthen the voice of small-scale fisher communities and built an evidence base for successful advocacy towards the government of Bangladesh resulting in more sustainable fisheries management practices and provision of social protection for fisherfolks during the annual 65 days Hilsa fishing ban period. Other examples include community inputs into sand mining in Nepal, financial support from local government in India for water conservation, the Kokrajhar Call for Action, signed by stakeholders of India and Bhutan, and revamping of the traditional Jamfwi system by the government of Bhutan. Demonstrating the value of community-led approaches to water resource management: TROSA built on traditional water management methods and demonstrated their usefulness in managing resources in the contemporary context. This was achieved by supporting pilot projects and using evidence from these to advocate for their adoption. Using bandals, a bamboo structure, for mitigating erosion of riverbanks was one such intervention. Not only did government support many communities to build bandals, but many villages also built bandals from their own resources. Empowered women and youth: collaboration with Women's Empowerment Centres (WEC) in the Mahakali sub-basin strengthened the voice and participation of women in water governance at the community level. WEC member's engagements with local governments let to investments of over USD 500 000 from local government budgets in investments identified by WECs. The program also initiated stronger youth engagement in water and river management issues through its Regional Youth Dialogue on Water, Climate and Human Rights, and the Youth Basin Ambassadors (YBA) scheme. Transboundary cooperation on shared water resources: Establishment of community-based flood early warning systems across the Nepal-India and India-Bhutan borders and the initiation of lift irrigation on the Nepal side of the Mahakali river due to community-to-community negotiations. TROSA also achieved success in the establishment of formal mechanisms for transboundary cooperation, such as the declaration of new protocol routes for inland water transit and trade between India and Bangladesh. TROSA has generated a substantive body of knowledge through the implementation and research commissioned during the implementation period. These knowledge products have been disseminated widely and are available in the public domain. The program directly reached over 192,000 people across the region. The final evaluation concludes that on community level there are strong results in the four countries with positive effects on the livelihoods of beneficiaries and strengthening of the voice and participation of women and their economic empowerment. Transboundary water cooperation has been established to some extent and there are examples of the program having succeeded in facilitating transboundary cooperation related to water governance, but at a more moderate scale. The program has contributed to creating momentum for transboundary cooperation on water governance. Examples include strengthening of CSO networks, contributing to maintaining Salaween as a free-flowing river, establishment of new communication systems for flood warning in the GBM and Mahakali/Sharda basins. The objective related to the practices of the private sector and their respect for community access to water resources was the most challenging one. For instance TROSA was not able to engage with the private sector as strategic partners; there was little opportunity for co-creating interventions that leverage each others knowledge and skills. There was limited change in the way in which communities perceived the private sector, distrust remains high. The endline evaluation found that very few people in communities recognized or considered the private sector as an ally to responsibly deal with river basins. Results include a number of research and studies done that later fed into dialogue with the private sector, such as water footprint analysis, sand mining practices and sector scoping studies. Lobbying was done with some positive results such as International Rives engagement with the Thai ETO-Watch coalition to lobby for regulation and oversight of Thai companies in their investments abroad, including dam projects on the Salween. TROSA was implemented in one of the most disruptive periods in South Asia. The Covid-19 pandemic affected lives of people in ways that were unimaginable when the program was launched. The period 2017 to 2022 was also politically volatile in South Asia; India saw the consolidation of right wing populist rule, Myanmar suffered a military coup that continues to cause widespread violence and Nepal experienced political instability. Only Bangladesh remained relatively stable.

Reduced poverty of marginalized and vulnerable communities through increased access to and control over water resources. 1) Government policies and practices in water resource management are more inclusive of community concerns and meet national and international standards. 2) Practices of private sector respect community access to water resources actively contributing to reduced conflict. 3) CSO increasingly participate in or influence trans-boundary water governance, women's inclusion and resolution of water conflicts. 4) River basin communities' increasingly influence in trans-boundary water governance policies and processes. 5) Increased participation and influence of women in trans-boundary water governance, policies and processes.