Lessons on cooperation building to manage water conflicts in the Aral Sea Basin; Technical documents in hydrology: pc-cp series; Vol.: 11; 2003

2.7. Training Systems 
The involvement of NGO stakeholders in developing training systems for water 
specialists is one is the most important cooperative programs of the ICWC. Following 
an ICWC decision, and supported financially by CIDA, a regional Training Center was 
established in Tashkent in 2000 in collaboration with McGill University (Montreal, 
Canada). The main task of this center is to improve skills and, simultaneously, to 
bring together the viewns of specialists from different countries. Monthly courses are 
organized as round table discussions. Last year more than 350 specialists from five 
states attended three courses on: 
● 
problems of integrated water resources management based on hydrographic 
principles 
● 
regional collaboration on transboundary watercourses 
● international 
water 
law. 
A new course on “Innovative practice in irrigated agriculture” started at the beginning 
of 2002 and is expected to continue for the next six to eight months. In future it is 
planned to prepare a set of new courses covering: 
● environmental 
protection 
issues 
● 
problems of drinking water supply and sanitation 
● 
problems of sustainable development of the power sector in the region 
● 
modeling in water management and irrigation. 
To improve integration and involve more participants, there are plans to organize 
training activities in four sub-regional centers: Dushanbe (Tajikistan) on the problem 
of intermountain plains and upper watersheds (supported by the World Bank); Osh 
(Kyrgyz Republic) on water problems in the densely populated Ferghana valley 
(supported by Swiss SDC and IWMI); Kyzyl-Orda (Kazakhstan) on the problems of 
downstream waters and rice cultivation; Tashauz (Turkmenistan) on the problems of 
downstream waters and Priaralye. It is planned to use these centers in combination 
with demonstrations in the field in water conservation and WUA development. 
The Training Center (TC) is one of the fora for presenting the common opinions 
of interested parties on different questions of water management. When developing 
the TC we initiated a “round table” approach with representation (equal in status and 
numbers) of different states, to whom TC moderators presented different aspects, in 
the form of lectures and PowerPoint presentations, as subjects for discussion. During 
the exchange of opinions at TC sessions, the participants can express their opinions 
freely and they need have no fears about speaking frankly. The popularity of the TC 
among water-related specialists from different sectors showed that it is an appropriate 
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forum, which we want to develop with more branches. The participation of official 
diplomatic representatives from the foreign affairs ministries of five states in two such 
events was a very positive experience in the work of the TC on round table scheme. 
We hope to develop such workshops with more broad involvement of stakeholders. 
The creation of negotiation procedures was part of the process of social mobilization in 
the project “IWRM in the Fergana valley,” initiated by us together with IWMI and 
supported by SDC. We hope to develop similar mechanisms in other regions of the 
basin. 
Such training networks of the ICWC involve not only training but also a “round 
table” system that promotes the broad involvement of different stakeholders in the 
most important water matters, and also makes it possible to create new frameworks 
for educational improvement in universities, colleges, schools, and other institutions.