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WATER EDUCATION AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTImage: Guillermo F. MendozaImage: Aelix Serrat CapdevilaAgricultural, municipal, industry and subsistence husbandry stakeholders at aninception stage stakeholder workshop for the Chili-Quilca river basin in 2011A working session with ANA in 2011, illustrating a simulation modelwith objectives and metrics identified in a mock workshopformulation and technical analysis of alternatives, so that theneeds of participants in the planning process solutions are betterdefined and understood, and solutions are developed to meetthem. The collaborative process is structured through ‘circles ofinfluence’ that define roles, commitments, communication channels,rules of engagement and, importantly, the two-way flow oftechnical information between interest groups, model buildersand analysts. The circles of influence concept enforces a paradigmshift by placing the model builders at the inner-lowest level,to be directed by stakeholders and decision makers at the highest.This is meant to ensure that a decision model is built startingfrom the decision objectives that matter, and that complexityis kept at a minimum to ensure that decisions of interest can bemade by stakeholders and those within the scope of the decisionmakers. Uncertain variables are examined first to determinewhether their further understanding would affect the outcomeof a decision. At an ongoing SVP process facilitated by USACEin the Nam Gam sub-basin of the Mekong River in Thailand, allmodelling is done with Excel because all members of the riverworking group have access to it.The members of level 1 (the model builders), are typicallysalaried and have the ability to develop sophisticated analysesand models of the water resources system of interest. In Peruthe model builders consist of the technical coordinators of theriver basin council, a consultant firm, the president of the riverbasin council and the autonomous water authority, which isa regional office of ANA. In these pilots, leaders of the interestgroups represent themes of Peru’s national water strategy(financing, water quality, risk and climate change, institutionsand culture of water, and water resources benefits)in level 2 (model validation), to test and help definethe decision metrics, objectives and measures to beevaluated with respect to the problem statements andinterests of their constituents. These first two groupsmeet with high frequency in technical work sessions.The broad interest groups (level 3) and decisionmakers (level 4) meet at lower frequency duringstructured workshops to further provide values andinterests, and decision scope (such as considerationof national or regional strategies, politics and masterplans) respectively. In these Peru pilots, the decisionmakers are engaged three times to validate theprogress of the IWRM planning process and to markofficial completion of the state of the basin (‘what dowe have?’), identification of measures to undertake(‘what do we want?’), and selection of measures toimplement (‘what is possible?’). Through these threeiterations the decision makers become familiar withthe IWRM decision model for the basin, and collaborateto define and understand the trade-offs that willhave to be made.Integrated water resources planning andsystems modellingPlanning is a structured approach to problem solvingthat provides a rational framework for decision-making.In general, planning starts by defining the problems andopportunities for change, defining objectives and criteria,[ 138 ]