The International Resources Group partnered with OSU’s Institute for Water and Watersheds, IWMI, Computer Assisted Development Incorporated, Nile Consultants, and ECO Consult on the Middle East North Africa Regional Water Governance Benchmarking Project (MENA ReWaB). The ReWaB Project (2010) was part of the USAID's Blue Revolution Initative and sponsored by USAID's Office of Middle East Programs.
The ReWaB Project aimed to characterize water governance regimes in a number of Middle Eastern countries in order to allow comparisons both across countries and over time. The project developed a conceptual framework for considering water governance, along with desk and field-based assessment methodologies, and applied these methodologies, in various combinations, in six countries: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Turkey, and Yemen. The framework defines concepts of governance, policy, management, and others and presents a strategy for assessing de facto water governance based on (1) essential water governance functions and (2) characteristics of governance decision-making processes. It also suggests a three-tiered framework defining the structural capacity for effective water governance, comprising (1) policies, (2) laws, and (3) organizations.
The final report of the MENA ReWaB project is available: Full Report and the Concept and Approach Framework is also available. An article based on the findings was also published by the researchers: Water governance benchmarking: concepts and approach framework as applied to Middle East and North African Countries.