Robyn Meeks

Robyn Meeks

Robyn Meeks
Part of my work focused on collating and assessing the status of relevant laws and institutions in each of the countries, as well as project information provided by a variety of donor agencies in an attempt to piece together a more comprehensive picture of the status of IWRM planning for each of the five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

2005 Urban Fellow

Research Topic: Water Resources

Faculty Advisor: Bradford Gentry

Water Governance Programme United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) supports its country and inter-country programmes by ensuring that UNDP and its associated funds have ready access to knowledge, policy guidance and operational tools for addressing poverty reduction necessary for achieving sustainable human development. UNDP’s development efforts are focused in six thematic priority areas, one of which is energy and environment. The corporate advocacy, analysis, policies and tools development in this practice are lead by staff in the Energy and Environment Group (EEG) of BDP. There are four Sub-Practices (water, energy, lands and biodiversity) and several Cross- Cutting Initiatives (environmental governance, poverty and environment, climate change, community development) which underpin the organization of the practice as a whole.

The Water Governance Sub-Practice promotes sound and effective governance of water resources to support sustainable livelihoods and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and accompanying water supply and sanitation targets. UNDP’s interventions are aimed at creating and enabling policy and strengthening institutional and human capacity through “hands-on”, on-the-ground actions that are essential for an effective multi-sectoral response to sustainable development. The Water Governance Sub-Practice supports national and local level action to operationalize Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) as well as riparian efforts to address transboundary management of water resources. The Sub-Practice further integrates the cross-cutting issues such as climate change, capacity development and gender.

Under the overall supervision of the Senior Water Policy Adviser and immediate guidance of the EEG Water Team, I provided support to the Water Governance Programme in the areas of research, writing, and design and preparation of multi-stakeholder dialogues on IWRM. In this respect, my internship included:

 1. Activities pertaining to IWRM, such as: a. Planning of community stakeholder dialogues to empower and involve historically marginalized groups in decision-making processes via river basin organizations; and b. Promotion of national IWRM plans. 2. Activities addressing transboundary waters, such as: a. Promotion of transboundary river basin management through an initiative facilitating cooperation between riparian countries; and b. Creation of a database of transboundary waters donors. 3. UNDP Water Portfolio review of projects implemented worldwide, not only through Headquarters in New York and the regional bureaus, but also through the network of 134 Country Offices addressing issues 174 countries.