Submission Deadline: 5.30pm AEST, Friday 8 March – extended to Wednesday 13 March 2019
The Australian Water Partnership (AWP) is looking for Australian Partners to work with the International Water Management Institute (IMWI) on an Activity related to water accounting.
Governments within the Indo-Pacific region are facing increased pressure to improve sustainable water resource management. Traditional approaches such as focusing on supply augmentation are no longer recognised as sustainable by stakeholders and governments are therefore seeking options to improve productivity. As a result, demand is increasing for consistent tools and guidance to support improvements.
IWMI is working with AWP to prepare an Activity to develop and guide water accounting as a practical tool to guide investments in irrigation, assess the impacts of these investments, and evaluate water intervention decisions in the Indo-Pacific region. The Activity will enable Australia to share its considerable experience in the application of water accounting approaches and tools, and to learn from applications in less data-rich countries.
The Activity will focus on India where IWMI has initiated discussions with World Bank staff in New Delhi and identified an irrigation modernisation project in West Bengal, with interest in utilising water accounting approaches.
View full details and eligibility/selection criteria here.
CONTACT
Ashleigh Rhind
AWP Senior Program Officer
T: +61 2 6206 8320
E: ashleigh.rhind@waterpartnership.org.au
Submissions
Submissions should be made via the online form, noting any requirements in the eligibility/selection criteria above.
FAQs
Click to expand answers:
How do I make a submission?
Click on the ‘Make a Submission’ button located in the top right to provide your contact details and upload your application document.
The description refers to an irrigation modernisation project in West Bengal – can you provide more details on the project area and the modernisation plans as this would be useful context to consider in preparing the method for the project?
Note that a methodology is not required for the EOI submission.
In terms of the West Bengal component of the Activity, IWMI have initiated discussions with World Bank staff in New Delhi and have identified an irrigation modernisation project in West Bengal where there is interest in utilising water accounting approaches. There is an existing IWMI partnership with this team examining water resource impacts of the investment as well as an ongoing capacity-building program with training in both the concepts and implementation of a basin-scale water accounting framework. Further information will be provided to the selected Partner/s.
Does the submission need to provide a full solution and project team, or can you nominate to be part of a team and outline what you can bring to the project?
The selection is not constrained to one Partner. Therefore, you may submit a nomination outlining what specific expertise you would bring to a consortium of Partners brought together for the Activity.
With regard the tender submission forms, are there any guidelines on the level of detail/length of the submission?
There are no specific guidelines regarding the length of the EOI submission. It needs to be sufficient to be able to clearly address each of the selection criteria outlined in the Call for EOIs.
The project has a two-year time frame – is there any reason why it covers such a long period?
The overall Activity which the Partner/s will be engaged in is ambitious and requires the development of guidelines, piloting and demonstration of the guidelines as well as capacity development. Two years has been estimated for the length of the Activity to ensure sufficient time for these tasks to be completed.
Should we use a modified version of the AWP tender submission form or our own letterhead?
There is no required format for the EOIs, as long as they address the selection criteria and staff/organisational eligibility requirements.
In the statement, “The Activity will focus on India where IWMI has initiated discussions with World Bank staff in New Delhi, and identified an irrigation modernisation project in West Bengal, with interest in utilising water accounting approaches”, is it intended that the pilot from the irrigation modernisation project and capacity development extend to the State level?
The pilot application/s of water accounting to inform improved implementation and monitoring of investments will be selected from existing donor investments in the irrigation and water resource management sectors. The selection criteria for pilots will include investments of a minimum size and expectation of basin-wide impacts so that the use of water accounting can be demonstrated at multiple scales.
In the statement, “Australian Partners will be drawn on to ensure that Australian knowledge, tools and expertise in water accounting in the broader water reform context is captured in the Activity. Up to AU$185,000 will be available for the selected Australian Partner/s to work with IWMI on this Activity”, please confirm that funding for IWMI’s collaboration with AWP Partners will be separate to the AU$185,000.
The funding for IWMI’s collaboration with AWP Partner/s is separate to the AU$185,000 that is allocated for engagement of Australian Partner/s.
Can you expand on the role of IWMI? Would IWMI collaborate through a Project Control Group, join the Project Team and/or bring specialist Technical Assistance to the collaboration.
IWMI will be the Activity lead. They will provide overall project management and quality assurance as well as technical contributions.
Will costs for venue and catering for missions to India be covered by IWMI/Indian counterparts or will these need to be covered by the submitting organisation?
Costs for venue hire and catering for missions to India will be covered by IWMI or Indian counterparts.
