Inception Phase

The SecureWater project concluded its inception phase at the end of May 2001. The major output of this phase is the Inception Report.

During its Inception Phase the project achieved major milestones including the successful initial scoping of research in five case study areas, creating an important network of research and dissemination between institutions in Asia and Africa (some of which have had major spin-offs in non-water related areas), and presentations at key international fora. The latter have included the Bonn International Conference on Freshwater, December 2001 (session convened), the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, August/September 2002, and the project presented a film and dialogue at the Kyoto Third World Water Forum under the ADB's water and poverty initiative. The film , produced professionally, covers key themes in three of the case study areas, namely India, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Kyoto has been its inaugural international screening. Due to developing synergies in south Asian water issues, the main research phase of the project will concentrate just in South Asia. The key reasons are:
a) thematic issues of water supply and the relationships to wider water resources management linkage are similar in both India and Sri Lanka and tie in more closely both with work undertaken on groundwater management problems investigated under ComMan and to similar livelihoods issues;
b) the level of implementation of DRA in both countries is roughly similar allowing greater comparison between the two and useful interlinkage with a key international policy vehicle, namely the International Water Management Institute in Colombo;
c) reducing the focus allows greater commitment of resources to detailed research and decision support and, perhaps most crucially, to establishing effective synergies with programme development, uptake and policy processes; the lead researchers in both countries have made great strides in policy linkage so far (see below);
d) Sri Lanka is emerging from a prolonged period of insecurity and conflict. Future development in the north of the country is likely to be substantial, including the rolling out of programmes such as those being developed by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NSWDB) supported by ADB in six districts including Hambantota.

The outputs of SecureWater will be in a position to assist substantially in future strategies and programme implementation.