Political Economy Analysis for Improved Water Management in Armenia
Project name: Political Economy Analysis for Improved Water Management in Armenia
Project start date: Jan 1, 2023
Project end date: June 30, 2024
Client: USAID and its Armenia IWM implementing partner Deloitte Consulting LLP
About the Project: The USAID Armenia Improved Water Management for Sustainable Economic Growth Program (IWM) is implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP. The Program aims to improve Armenia’s approach to water management by focusing on the equity of access to water while maintaining environmental flow and water quality for the protection of freshwater resources.
The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment was recruited to conduct a Political Economy Analysis (PEA) of the water sector in Armenia, identifying foundational factors, rules of the game, the here and now, and dynamics among the three to synthesize implications for the Program. This is intended as a first step in thinking and working politically and as an iterative process to continue beyond the initial assessment.
Armenia’s water-sector PEA will help gain an understanding of the underlying reasons why things work the way they do and identify the incentives and constraints impacting the behavior of actors in a relevant system. By helping identify these influences—political, economic, social, and cultural—PEA supports a more politically informed approach to working.
Through close and continuing collaboration with USAID, the team will develop a focused research question and employ USAID’s Applied Political Economy Assessment methodology. The resulting report will provide useful and actionable information for the IWM team, including implications for engagement and programming.
In addition, a package of communication and dissemination (C&D) activities will serve to inform the public and key actors of the PEA findings. The aim is to inform and frame public discussions on water management in Armenia. The C&D activities include media training, production and dissemination of informational videos, and meetings with policymakers, parliamentarians, experts, academics, CSOs, and the private sector.
AUA Acopian Center Deliverables:
Ամբողջական զեկույց | FULL REPORT
Քաղաքականության համառոտագիր | POLICY BRIEF
Ներկայացման սլայդներ | PRESENTATION SLIDES
Իրազեկման տեսահոլովակնոր | AWARENESS-RAISING VIDEOS
Forthcoming are 6-7 short videos on water stress (including impacts of climate change), water quality, transboundary water, and water use in agriculture, industry, households, etc. The videos will be in Armenian with English subtitles. The expected completion date is in summer 2024.
Մեդիա թրեյնինգ | MEDIA TRAINING
A 1.5-day workshop for media and journalists. The training will focus on the PEA and its findings to establish a common ground for understanding the state of play in Armenia’s water sector. Discussion and workshop activities will include understanding the framing of water issues in the Kura-Araks basin, media cycles and relevance to water topics, oversight and watchdog functions, and regional media monitoring tools. The training will be implemented in partnership with the Media Initiative Center in Yerevan.
Հիմնական դերակատարների հետ հանդիպումներ և երկխոսություն | KEY ACTOR MEETINGS AND DIALOG
The AUA Acopian Center team along with Deloitte Armenia and USAID Armenia representatives have completed a series of informational and dialog sessions with key actors and decision-makers. These include:
— Republic of Armenia Government agencies and representatives
— National Assembly deputies and experts
— Civil society organizations
— Academics
— Businesses
— International donors in Armenia
For more information contact [email protected]
The USAID Armenia Improved Water Management for Sustainable Economic Growth Program (IWM), is implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP. The Program aims to transform Armenia’s approach to water management to improve the equity of access to water while maintaining environmental flow and water quality for the protection of freshwater resources. The Program was launched in 2022 and will last through 2027. For more information, visit here.
The 5-year Program will achieve this through the development and dissemination of improved approaches and tools to support sustainable and secure water management; advancing improved water governance; and spreading best practices and innovative approaches in water conservation and use. The Program will also provide technical and advisory services (including training, applied research, and analysis) to the Government of Armenia (GOAM), local communities, and the private sector, and support the implementation of small-scale pilot projects to improve water management and use. The Program’s activities will pursue the following objectives:
Objective 1: Apply advanced technologies and tools to support sustainable and secure water management
Objective 2: Improve water governance
Objective 3: Promote and scale best practices and innovative approaches to increase equitable access to water
Objective 4: Prepare for regional cooperation with neighboring countries
Objective 5: Improve access to water
Under Objective 2, the program is charged with supporting the streamlining of legal, regulatory, and planning environments for sustainable, transparent governance of water resources, their efficient/effective use, and the use of innovative financing. To create a more streamlined regulatory and planning environment, the Program will support the GOAM in advancing major legislative and planning documents and identifying opportunities for innovative financing and cost-sharing arrangements to facilitate improved water management and delivery services.
The program also anticipates starting a policy dialogue with the water sector stakeholders in the improvement of the legal/regulatory framework, policies, and procedures to improve water resource management in the country by making it integrated, more transparent, accountable, and participatory. The policy dialogue is intended to be carried out both at the national and local levels with a wide involvement not only of the state institutions but also academia, private and non-profit sectors, citizens, and water users/consumers of drinking and irrigation water in the policy deliberation and formulation process in close coordination with the other projects funded by the international donor community. All of these activities will be informed, firstly, by an initial sectoral Political Economy Analysis (PEA).