About TWIEN-SEE

Increasingly, policy-makers, water professionals and researchers recognize the complexity of water resource management. Building and sustaining capacity within water and water-related institutions at technical, institutional, legislative and managerial levels, emerges as a cornerstone for promoting effective implementation of integrated water resources management (IWRM) concepts, tools and policies.

In this respect, developing and disseminating capacity building programs through training material, toolkits or documents and web-sites present effective tools for accumulating, sharing and using relevant knowledge in the field. Such material should be targeted to address the specific concerns of a range of stakeholders, at sub-national, national and regional levels. Knowledge related to sustainable development and IWRM concepts can empower water practitioners and researchers as well as decision makers and planners and strengthen good governance in the water sector. Particularly when it comes to transboundary water bodies, cooperation and sharing of information is of paramount importance for effectively managing shared resources.

Considerable experience exists in the SEE and the Mediterranean region from work already undertaken in different transboundary river basins, international lakes and shared aquifers on issues such as regulatory, institutional, methodological and other aspects of integrated management of transboundary water bodies.

The establishment of an internet-based community of practice and the development of a virtual information-exchange network provides opportunities for infusing knowledge into competent organisations and individuals. It may assist in facilitating cross-border interaction, sharing of experiences from outside the region as well as co-ordination on planning and implementation of various types of joint interventions.

This Website facilitates an Internet-based Transboundary Waters Information Exchange Network for the South Eastern Europe region (TWIEN-SEE). It is one of the two main outputs of the activity of GEF IW:LEARN, Activity D2 “Face-to-face and virtual training, knowledge sharing and capacity building cooperation between stakeholders in Southeastern Europe and Mediterranean sub-region” (from now on referred to as the Project).

Objectives

TWIEN-SEE is a web-based tool that aims to strengthen networking and communication between decision makers and experts and assist in information and experience sharing on related issues, contributing to the cross-fertilization between competent organizations and persons with roles in the management of shared water bodies in the region. The overall objective is, to establish and facilitate a virtual SEE Transboundary Water Resources Management Community of Practice (CoP). Capacity building workshops will assist the scope of the Project.

TWIEN-SEE aims to:

• disseminate information, knowledge and experience regarding IWRM at national and transboundary level,
• document existing initiatives, approaches and guidelines on promoting integrated management of shared water bodies in the region,
• disseminate material and information on the Petersberg Phase II and the Athens Declaration Processes,
• facilitate and archive e-fora on priority topics with an emphasis to those tackled by the capacity building workshops organized within the Project as well as on other themes identified by partners and users,
• prepare participants for the capacity building workshops organized within the Project through moderated e-fora and follow up on their outcomes enabling a continued dialogue,
• disseminate background and preparatory materials of the workshops as well as their results and outputs,
• provide links to related organizations and initiatives.

Target audience

TWIEN-SEE target audience includes a wide variety of stakeholders with a role in design, development and implementation of policies and on-the-ground interventions with regard to integrated transboundary water resources management in SEE and the Mediterranean sub-regions ie. national authorities, joint transboundary management bodies, local authorities, NGOs, private sector, academia, research institutes, international / regional organizations etc.

TWIEN-SEE users would include:

• targeted decision makers, managers and experts that will be directly invited to participate and contribute,
• other interested parties and persons with knowledge and action on the subject that may wish to use the services and contribute to dialogues.

TWIEN-SEE web site components

TWIEN-SEE web site will comprise of:

A) Web-pages, containing information and documents that users can view on-line or download, such as:

• overall information regarding GEF IW:LEARN and in particular the Project,
• documents produced within the Project eg. general and thematic capacity building papers, plans, proceedings, minutes, etc,
• the ‘Inventory on Internationally Shared Surface Waters Bodies in the Balkan Region’ and the ‘Inventory of Shared Aquifers in the Balkan Region, prepared in 2004,
• assessments and key documents on transboundary water management prepared by the Core Partners eg. the assessment undertaken by the World Bank in 2003,
• documentation on the Petersberg Phase II and the Athens Declaration Processes, the Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative, etc,
• documentation, background papers and follow up material of the Project’s workshops e.g agendas, technical papers, proceedings, evaluation reports, etc.
• information and key material produced by competent organizations and on-going initiatives,
• links to websites of the Core Partners and key collaborating organizations and institutions,
• links to information sources on integrated transboundary water resources management in the region.

B) Dynamic web-pages that will encompass a set of tools to make possible on-line communication and interaction of the users and assist the establishment and sustaining of a Community of Practice (CoP) on integrated transboundary water resources management in the region:

• e–Forum.
It facilitates on-line moderated fora to prepare participants for the capacity building workshops and their follow-up. It can also enable continued dialogue on topics of interest identified and proposed by CoP members.

• Message Board
Through this service, up-to-date information on events, meetings, conferences, tenders, job opportunities and other notices relevant to the CoP members can be posted and obtained. After registering, users will be able to post such information. The posted material is accessible to all without any restriction.

• CoP Members.
In this area the list of members of the CoP and their profiles, as these were posted during their registration, are available.

• CoP Member Contributions.
This feature allows CoP members to upload material regarding, among others, practical experiences related to TWRM, case studies, technical papers, studies, assessments etc. These materials are available to all users of the website.

• Calendar.
This feature allows users to upload information on events regarding transboundary water resources management that will take place in the future. Furthermore it provides information about the scheduled activities of the GEF IW:LEARN Actvity D2 project.

A notification on new interventions and/or postings can automatically be sent by the system through email to the CoP members that will activate this facility. The notification informs about the new posting and/or intervention and provides a link to the website.

TWIEN-SEE disclaimer:
This website is a work in progress. Content on the website incorporates contributions from a range of role players in Transboundary Water Resources Management. The project team has taken every effort to ensure accurate content and information exchange. However, if you find an error or disagree with content posted, contact the webmaster.