Strengthening Institutional Capacities for Sustainable Management of Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS) in Bangladesh

This workshop will use the Bangladesh Country Assessment Report to improve understanding of the sensitive differences in the scale of operation, organizational structures, policy and legal frameworks, investments, and financial arrangements of SPIS implementation.

The one-day workshop will bring together various stakeholders –policymakers, researchers, and private-sector actors – to discuss and draw lessons from the successes and failures of existing SPIS programmes in the country. The workshop aims to deliberate on the following to discuss the intended feasibility assessment and policy toolkit to be produced under this project:

• Key factors (biophysical, technical, agronomic, managerial, organizational, financial, and social) determining the success and failure of SPISs in the field
• Interlinkages of farm-level application of SPISs and national policy frameworks and support structures
• Policy options for the promotion and regulation of SPISs with specific regard to groundwater resources and equitable access
• Key factors determining the feasibility of SPISs from multiple perspectives, including equitable access to groundwater, government support, and technical and financial feasibility
• Development of a policy toolkit for determining SPIS feasibility (where water resource conditions are suitable) to help the poorest farmers
• Creation of an enabling environment, such as by forming regulations for SPIS use so that water is sustainably and equitably used

Workshop outputs:

• Defined parameters for the design and scope of policy tools to be developed under this project
• Identified target areas and key leverage points for high-impact policy making
• Determined government priorties in SPIS implementation to set a more focused scope for the policy brief and policy tools