Mekong River Commission Secretariat

		Download this anouncement + draft agenda (in pdf)
	For further information please contact:
	Mr Suparerk Janprasart suparerk@mrcmekong.org

Regional Meeting on Stakeholder Engagement

Background

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is committed to improving the way in which it engages with its many stakeholders at all levels of the institution including through:

• its programmes
• the Basin Development Planning Process
• and the Joint Committee (JC) and Council.

The MRC has adopted Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as the conceptual basis for supporting the joint development and management of water and related resources in the Lower Mekong Basin. Stakeholder participation is an integral part of IWRM principles and has been adopted by the MRC in its Strategic Plan 2006-2010. However at present, MRC has limited overall strategic direction for public participation although recent efforts have been made by MRC programmes to address this gap but on an ad-hoc basis.

A recent Organisational Review team recommended the MRC improve upon its current stakeholder engagement and formalise a consultative process at the MRC JC and Council, the highest levels of decision-making within the organisation. The MRC JC, at its Special Session on 27 June 2007 agreed on the recommendation 37, which specifically says to “Formalise a stakeholder (NGO and civil society) consultative process as part of MRC annual meetings.”

The MRCS is now requested to develop standard principles for the organisation along with a policy focused on increasing the meaningful participation of stakeholders within the Joint Committee and Council. The stakeholder engagement policy will also include a process for its implementation.

Furthermore, the MRC’s Basin Development Programme Phase 2 (BDP2), the umbrella programme charged with joint basin development planning has already made significant efforts to develop stakeholder participation strategies and approaches. The BDP2 held a first regional consultation in March 2008 with a diverse set of stakeholders and have been in the process of developing a Stakeholder Participation and Communication Plan (SPCP) through a national consultative process. The SPCP provides principles, guidance and a plan of action for stakeholder participation and communication in the BDP process.

As the governance level and basin planning level are closely interlinked, both of these stakeholder participation processes are being developed further in a joint regional consultation. The MRCS seeks input and feedback into the:

• scoping process for the development of stakeholder principles and policy at the MRC governance level; and
• finalisation of the BDP Phase 2 Stakeholder Participation and Communication Plan (SPCP)

Ensuring, thus, that stakeholder participation is carried out in a meaningful way and mainstreamed in all aspects of MRC work in the course of 2009.

Purpose

• To exchange information between the Mekong River Commission and Mekong River Basin stakeholders to increase understanding of possible approaches and tools for meaningful stakeholder engagement in the MRC;
• To share results from initial scoping on possible MRC-wide principles and policy implementation elements to guide stakeholder participation within the MRC Joint Committee and Council for feedback and comment;
• To introduce and receive feedback from regional stakeholders on the draft of the BDP2’s Stakeholder Participation and Communication Plan.