NARBO secretariat conducted the sixth NARBO IWRM Training (the sixth Training) in Da Nang, Viet Nam, from 30 November 2009 to 7 December 2009, which was hosted by the Vu Gia–Thu Bon (VGTB) River Basin Organization and People’s Committee of Da Nang City and Quang Nam Province with support from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Government of Viet Nam.

IWRM Training is one of the NARBO’s flagship activities based on its action plan 2008 – 2009 and aims to develop capacity of NARBO staff members staff in introducing, implementing and improving IWRM in their respective river basins.

The sixth Training was directed by Mr. Peter Oliver from the International Water Center (IWC), Australia. It used the VGTB river basin as case study in applying the spiral model of the IWRM process, following lessons learned from the previous training held in the same river basin.

IWRM Guidelines at River Basin Level was used as a main reference material. This document provides practical information on implementing IWRM in river basins with focuses on

• (ⅰ) using ‘Keys for Success (KfS)’ in a spiral of adaptive management to increase water security,
• (ⅱ) optimizing the interests of stakeholders at each phase,
• (ⅲ) generating a triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental outcome.

19 senior–level participants, representatives of seven countries and of eight river basin organizations (RBOs) were awarded certificates. Four of them were praised for their remarkable performance.

The Training employed the following learning structures effectively:

• (ⅰ) knowledge and experiences from participants (posters, presentations, group work discussions;
• (ⅱ) knowledge and experiences from lecturers (presentations and discussions on theory and other case studies);
• (ⅲ) understanding and use of IWRM Guidelines (presentations and group work);
• (ⅳ) VGTB case study (sector perspectives, situation analysis and study visits).

These structures helped to achieve the following learning objectives:

• (ⅰ) to clarify IWRM and the implementation process;
• (ⅱ) to provide a sound understanding of sectoral perspectives;
• (ⅲ) to apply the IWRM Guidelines;
• (ⅳ) to understand ‘KfS for IWRM’ through case studies;
• (ⅴ) to introduce performance benchmarking of RBOs, investment roadmap on IWRM, and benefit sharing ;
• (ⅵ) to critically evaluate VGTB case study in terms of barriers and enablers to IWRM;
• (ⅶ) to explain how KfS may be applied in their own river basins.

All respondents to the feedback survey gave satisfactory rating to Overall Rating, which demonstrated the success of the training. Most of the training elements also received positive feedback from the participants. One participant confirmed that the training exceeded his expectations. In this regard, the 6th Training was completed successfully and participants were of the view that their expectations have been achieved.

The NARBO secretariat is going to provide the details of the 6th IWRM Training and to share the materials among the NARBO members in the next update of NARBO website.