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NARBO Benchmarking Program
NARBO Members Consultation

29-30 November 2004
Malang, Indonesia

Post Workshop Statement

Background

Benchmarking has been defined a "a systematic process for securing continual improvement through comparison with relevant and achievable internal or external norms and standards"(Malano & Burton, 2001)

The overall aim of benchmarking is to improve an organization's performance as measured against its mission and objectives. Benchmarking implies comparison - either against similar organizations, or organizations performing similar functions or processes.

With the relatively rapid adoption of River Basin Organizations (RBO) as the key institutional element supporting the adoption and implementation of integrated water resources management (IWRM) in Asian river basins, there is a demand for systematic methods for identification of best practices in basin management.

The Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO) supports the expansion of RBO and IWRM principles in the region. The Framework for NARBO Action Plans (2004-2005) identifies Performance Benchmarking as one of the priority activities for the network.

Benchmarking RBOs

Benchmarking is primarily about change - people that embark on benchmarking have identified a need to improve one or more aspects of their organizations' performance. RBOs have distinct characteristics that distinguish them from all others. However, there are sufficient similarities in the physical basin characteristics and the operational responsibilities of the RBOs to make comparison of performance a useful methodology to identify best practices and to promote sharing of experiences.

RBOs being compared must have similar characteristics. They may be classified in terms of: National characteristics (demographics, socio-economic status, governance structure), Basin characteristics (size, resource endowment, land use, development stage), RBO characteristics (age, objectives, membership).

Since RBOs are responsible for a broad range of activities, it is possible to define many potential measures of performance. However, it is practical to test a limited set of indicators initially, and then expand the indicators being studied over time. The initial set of performance indicators can focus on the seven areas of RBO operations:

• Resources management - data collection and management, responses to drought and flood, responses to climate changes, etc
• Stakeholder involvement - gender inclusiveness, NGO involvement, complaints
• Environmental performance-environmental statistics, water quality, environmental flow maintenance, etc
• Service performance - complaint by sector
• Internal RBO management - staffing levels and satisfaction, budget, staff training, etc
• International cooperation in shared basins - treaty existence and compliance, data exchange and cooperation
• Millennium development goals - progress toward achieving key water related goals

Objective

• Review a proposal for systematic benchmarking of river basin organizations
• Formulate a benchmarking work plan that will facilitate the launching of the Benchmarking Initiative at the Second Southeast Asia Water Forum in mid 2005.

Participants

Approximately 60 participants are expected to participate in the workshop, to include

• Senior representatives of NARBO member organizations
• Members of the ADB and International Water Management Institute benchmarking group
• Japan Water Authority and KOWACO representatives
• other invitees

View list of participants. [PDF: 21Kb | 3 pages]

Venue

The workshop will take place in Batu, a small city that is approximately 15 kilometres from Malang, East Java, Indonesia.

Program

• final program

Workshop Materials

• speeches and presentations
• working group outputs
• others

Contact

Dennis von Custodio
Water Operations Adviser, ADB
E-mail: dvcustodio@adb.org