Project News

Participants in the First Project Management Committee.

The First Project Management Committee was held by the Project for Strengthening Water Management Transfer (SWMT) at the Central Department of Irrigation Advisory Service (CDIAS) of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) on 26 November, 2012. 22 people participated in the committee not only from the CDIAS, the Training Sector for Water Resources and Irrigation (TSWRI) and the General Directorate of Irrigation Advisory Service (GDIAS) which are counterparts (CP) of the SWMT, but also from the Irrigation Department (ID), the Irrigation Sector (IS) and the Institutional Reform Unit (IRU) of the MWRI.

Main purposes of the committee were (1) to share outcomes of the Water Management Improvement Project II (WMIP 2) and main concepts of the SWMT Project and (2) to share and discuss the draft selection criteria of the pilot sites.

At the beginning of the committee, Eng. Nagwa El Khashab, Head of the CDIAS explained the significance and agenda of the committee to the participants, while Eng. Naito, Chief Advisor of the SWMT Project explained about outcomes of the WMIP 2 and main concepts of the SWMT Project. As for their explanations, there were comments by the participants such as "It is necessary to further discuss each role of the relevant stakeholders in the SWMT Project." and "The SWMT Project should target only the BCWUA."

The selection criteria of pilot sites were explained by the CP and Eng. Ueno, and the participants commented that new sites should be selected so that they can also have good project experiences as the project sites of the WMIP2. It was also pointed out that the process of solving problems by themselves with the technical support by JICA experts is important for the CP staff and BCWUA members' capacity building.

As a result of the committee, it was decided that the CDIAS staff and the JICA experts visit the project sites of the WMIP 2, check their current situations and review the selection criteria of pilot sites based on opinions by the CPs, while the GDIAS send their proposals on the pilot sites to the CDIAS with reference to the revised selection criteria. The pilot sites of the SWMT Project will be finally decided in the Project Management Committee in the end of January, 2013.

It should be also noted that during the committee, Dr. Koji Kitamura, JICA Policy Advisor for Agriculture and National Water Resources Management, was given a gift by Eng. Nagwa El Khashab for their appreciations on his accomplishments for the MWRI in the past 3 and a half years.

The SWMT Project will continuously organize the Project Management Committee with stakeholders in every month to effectively share the project information and enhance their ownership of the SWMT Project.

Dr. Kitamura given a gift by the CP.