RP TROSA 2.0 - GDS (India) The Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA) programme, initiated in 2017, with funding support from the Swedish Government, has been implemented in four regionally significant river basins shared between Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Nepal. The programme aimed at addressing issues of water insecurity that affect the millions of people living in transboundary river basins in South Asia, and dependent on the natural resources and ecosystem services they provide. The overall goal of TROSA is to reduce poverty and marginalisation of vulnerable river basin communities through increased access to, and control over the riverine water resources on which their livelihoods depend. Towards attainment of this goal, the programme has made considerable efforts in strengthening the capacities of river basin communities and civil society and amplifying the voices of women to influence government and private sector policies and practices, and promoting respect for communities’ rights in water resources management across the region.

In the first-phase of its implementation (2017-22), the TROSA programme has succeeded in creating a positive momentum for transboundary cooperation on shared water resources in the region. Building on this foundation, it has been decided to extend the TROSA programme further. Termedas TROSA Phase 2: Rivers, Rights and Resilience (T2:3R), the programme will now strive to
 strengthening basin approach to foster the resilience of riparian communities to the impact of climate change,
 support climate-resilient livelihoods for vulnerable natural-resource-dependent communities in the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) basins,
 strive for improved management of transboundary river ecosystems; and,
 scaling up efforts to empower and increase participation of women, youth and Indigenous peoples in water governance across the basins, as well as strengthening institutions for cooperation on governance of shared water resources.

Grameen Development Services (GDS), a non-government development organisation (NGDO), based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India), has implemented the first-phase of TROSA programme in the field, in the Nepal/India, trans-boundary Mahakali/Sharda basin (a part of the larger Ganga basin). GDS has been entrusted with the responsibility to continue with the implementation of the programme in the second phase as well, the lower Mahakali/Sharda basin.

The implementation of the four-year, second-phase of the TROSA programme is scheduled to begin from May 2023. However, it has been decided to carry out an inception phase of the programme, from December 2022 to April2023, with the objective to put in place all the systems and processes that would facilitate implementation of the main programme, and to ‘ensure alignment and expectations’ of all the key stakeholders involved.

The main activities envisaged to be carried out under the inception phase include risk assessment and due diligence of all partners, setting up the T2:3R governance structure, formulation of inception plan, updating strategic documents (gender strategy, communications <(>&<)> knowledge management strategy, youth engagement strategy, and policy <(>&<)> influencing strategy), finalizing MEAL framework <(>&<)> plan, conducting inception workshopto finetune the action plan and budget for the full programme, develop the communication plan, and finalise the programme MIS.