Building the skill base to manage the Mekong - the Integrated Capacity Building Programme - (ICBP)
Critical to the long-term sustainable management of Mekong resources is the urgent need in all riparian countries for an improvement in the skill base in environment, water and natural resource management. The MRC Secretariat works to increase the professional skill level of its own staff, as well as staff of the National Mekong Committees, Secretariat and national agencies in Member Countries. The long-term goal is that of "riparianisation" of the organisation, that is, ensuring that it is run by people from the Mekong Basin.
Funding was secured in 2008 for the formulation of a four-year programme and the implementation of a number of priority capacity building activities over the period 2009 - 2013. This means that in addition to other funds secured for the Junior Riparian Professional Project and the Gender Mainstreaming Project, ICBP was able to upscale its activities in 2008 from the previous year.
The objectives of ICBP are to raise the level of competence among staff of the MRC and riparian governments, particularly on cross-cutting issues pertinent to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), and to provide support to MRC training activities in priority areas. The component now includes: (i) the MRC capacity building activities for staff from the Secretariat and agencies in Member Countries and NMCs training activities under the Operating Expenses Budget; (ii) the Junior Riparian Professional Project; (iii) the Gender Mainstreaming Project; and (iv) the AusAID integrated training project.
Full scale implementation of the ICBP will commence in 2009 once funding is secured. The following capacity building initiatives were undertaken in 2008:
Operational Expenses Budget for Training
In 2008, almost US$ 60,000 was made available under the operating
expenses budget to strengthen the capacity and develop the skills
of MRC and NMC staff. A total of 126 staff of MRCS and NMCs
benefited from these funds to increase their skill level through
official degrees from local universities, Leadership and Management
Workshops, Effective Communication and Working Relationship,
the National Consultation Workshop for Better Communication
and Coordination, the Enhancing Leadership and Management Skill
Workshop, English Language Training (General and Writing Skill
training), and specific training related to their roles and
responsibilities.
MRCS hosted eight interns; four from riparian countries, one from the wider region, and three international interns. The guidelines on interns were also updated to provide small support costs to four interns from Member Countries each year. The application of this new process will begin in 2009.
Junior Riparian Project (JRP)
Targeting up and coming riparian professionals, the first batch
of eight Junior Riparian Staff were on board in November 2008.
They were trained to improve their skills central to working
at the MRC; including MRC Orientation, Integrated River Basin
Planning, Strategic Planning and Management, Project Cycle Management
and Logical Framework, Gender Mainstreaming in Water Resources
Development, and facilitation. From January to October 2009
the Junior Riparian Staff will participate in on-the-job training
as part of the MRC programme. The recruitment and training courses
of Batch 2 and Batch 3 will take place in 2009. A total of 40
JRPs will take part in training from 2008 - 2011.
Gender Mainstreaming Project
The Gender Mainstreaming Project continued implementation throughout
the year and completed Phase II of the project in December.
Several activities took place, such as; the formulation of national
gender teams and a MRC gender in-house network; the establishment
of a coordination mechanism between the MRC and national gender
teams; the formulation of national action plans; and introduction
of the use of guidelines, checklist and toolkits for integrating
gender concerns into the activities. Almost half of MRC programmes
have taken initiatives to incorporate gender into their programmes,
for example;
- The Watershed Management Project has become more aware of the gaps in their documents and has explored the scope for cooperation with the Gender Project for further gender mainstreaming.
- The Basin Development Plan Programme (BDP) is now incorporating the gender framework into the BDP planning process and will start working with the gender project on this initiative.
- The Flood Management and Mitigation Programme (FMMP) is developing a gender toolkit based on gender issues identified by the FMMP team recently.
- Starting in 1998, the MRC Fisheries Programme has integrated gender across the programme, assigning a staff member to lead gender activities using the fisheries budget, establishing a technical advisory body with the members at the Joint Committee level; and a regional advisory group and national level gender coordinators.
The Integrated Training Project
A two day executive seminar/workshop on leadership and management
was hosted for 16 representatives of senior management of the
MRC in early October 2008 and received very positive feedback.
ICBP responded to a request to address the urgent capacity building
needs of the MRCS to enhance the media and presentation skills
of 20 selected staff members. The three-day workshop was organized
in September 2008.
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