Project Partners

IRG brings together an outstanding team of international, national, and regional institutions to design and implement an effective regional water governance benchmarking system and to gain buy-in to that system:

International Resources Group (IRG) has extensive experience working with and building capacity of water and other resource management organizations in USAID-supported countries, including six MENA countries. Our work spans the spectrum from strategic planning, policy and institutional analysis to training and capacity building in management units, to field-level work with farmers and small- and medium-sized enterprises. Dr. Mark Svendsen, Team Leader, is responsible for all technical activities and serves as the single point of contact with USAID/OMEP for technical, administrative, and financial matters. Dr. Svendsen also leads Tasks 1 and 3, drawing extensively on the experience of the partners below.

UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI (WGF) provides assistance and technical support to developing countries to promote progress on water governance. WGF works in multiple thematic areas and promotes South-South collaboration and exchange of water reform experiences and best practices. The Water Governance Facility: Develops and supports implementation of projects and programs; designs tools and methodologies for addressing and working with water governance related issues; enhances knowledge on water governance issues through publications, capacity building activities and training programs; and develops international and regional water governance monitoring and assessment processes.

Institute of Water and Watersheds, Oregon State University (OSU/IWW) is a leader in addressing water problems domestically and in developing countries. The Institute, Oregon’s water resources research institute, brings together 125-plus OSU faculty in six colleges who teach and conduct research in areas related to water and watershed management. Dr. Aaron Wolf, OSU/IWWl is leading the Task 2 team to assess country legal codes and water resource management policies/strategies, and propose benchmarks and indicators in these areas. OSU/IWW will also take the lead in developing a repository database that makes documents and literature readily available and searchable. This database will be an extension of the world-renowned database on transboundary treaties and conflicts that was developed by Dr. Wolf, and will be linked to it to enable seamless searches of both national and trans-national documents related to Middle East water resource management. A team of database specialists, legal experts, and policy analysts will support this work, with other staff available to address particular needs as they arise.

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is one of the 15 internationally-chartered CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) centers dedicated to improving agriculturally-based livelihoods in the developing world. A world class knowledge center on water, food, and the environment, IWMI conducts research that generates knowledge on better water and land management in developing countries. Under the programmatic leadership of Dr. Mark Giordano, IWMI brings a large body of experience in river basin planning and management, institutional mapping and assessment, and is leading the institutional mapping and assessment work under Task 2.

Computer Assisted Development, Inc. (CADI) provides technical services and products to governments and businesses worldwide focusing on applied, practical, and attainable solutions to complex domestic and international development problems. CADI has achieved successful results through technical assistance, training, special studies, and technology transfer, including the extensive use of information technology as an effective problem-solving tool. During our 21-year history, CADI has successfully completed over 100 projects/assignments in Asia, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. For the ReWaB project, Dr. Tom Sheng, CADI is leading the data systems review and website development work under Task 2.

Nile Consultants and ECO Consult. These two companies bring extensive water management expertise, in addition to experience in their own countries– Egypt (Nile Consultants) and Jordan (ECO Consult) – and in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The partners are working closely with these organizations to capitalize on the insights they bring and their access to information, documents, and decision-makers in the region. In addition, IRG may engage other locally-based firms that are well-equipped to provide the same kinds of critical services in other three focal countries.