Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA)

More than 700 million South and South-East Asians depend on the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna (GBM) and Salween river basins for food, water and energy needs. Transboundary river systems and the ecosystem services they provide are increasingly under threat by unregulated infrastructure development, unplanned land use practices and climate change, with strong impact on riverine communities. Many of such communities are disadvantaged by lack of cooperation and lack of capacity to claim their rights over water and related natural resources.

TROSA works with a diverse group of organizations to address these issues.  Building communities’ capacity to participate in water governance, the program aims to achieve the that: 

• Government policies and practices in water resource management are more inclusive of community concerns & meet national & international standards,
• Policies and practices of the private sector respect community access to water resources, actively contributing to reduced conflict,
• CSOs increasingly participate in or influence transboundary water governance, women’s inclusion and resolution of water conflicts,
• River basin communities increasingly influence transboundary water governance policies and processes,
• Women have more influence on transboundary water governance, policies & processes. 

TROSA aims to bring in more youth voices and support their meaningful engagement in issues of river water governance. It organizes youth camps to build the capacity of the youth so that they can lead the movement in future. 

TROSA is funded by the government of Sweden. The program is implemented by the Oxfam country offices in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Myanmar, in close partnership with 15 local and national NGOs and 4 regional partners (ICIMOD, SIWI, IR and IUCN). It works closely with other networks and programs working on regional water issues.

From local to regional

TROSA works from local level to regional level. For example, in its second year, TROSA partner NEEDS in Nepal worked closely with local authorities and local sand mining contractors in the Bhimdatta municipality along the Mahakali river to develop environmentally sustainable and socially responsible River Sand Mining Guidelines. The proposed guidelines outline specific measures for environment friendly mining practices that respect communities’ control over mining, for equitable sharing of benefits.

In the same year regional partner ICIMOD convened a high-level international consultative workshop to discuss and identify areas of regional cooperation through an integrated river basins-landscapes approach in the region. The workshop brought together more than 100 participants from over 20 countries and provided an opportunity for donors, lawmakers, civil servants, researchers and policymakers to share their experiences with river-basin management, cross-border landscape approaches, and regional cooperation.

Facts:

Project name:  Transboundary Rivers of South Asia        
Project period: 2017-2021
Target group: Over 100,000 river stakeholders, including community members, government officials, PS players and CSOs.
Location Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna river basins in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and Salween basin in Myanmar and Thailand.
Budget: €11,371,715

Contact:

TROSA’s Program Management Unit (PMU) is hosted at Oxfam in Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
The program is managed by Oxfam Novib’s ALIVE team. Contact person: rian.fokker@oxfamnovib.nl .
TROSA on Social Media: https://twitter.com/RiversTROSA and https://www.facebook.com/RiversTROSA/

Trosa Brochure