ASPIRED Project Report Q1 – FY 2016

The project was awarded to Mendez England & Associates by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Water and Development IDIQ (WADI) contract. The ASPIRED project focuses on several critical areas, including water resource data, technology, regulatory framework/enforcement of laws, and coordination across stakeholders. The project emphasizes building partnerships with USAID Global Development Lab, the US Geological Survey, private sector, research organizations, and other donors to pilot innovative water and energy efficiency technologies and promote better water resource monitoring, planning, and sustainable management. During the first quarter of FY 2016 (October – December, 2015), the ASPIRED project team submitted a Work Plan for Year 1 and received approval from USAID in December 2015. The work plan outlines critical activities and targets to be met during the first year of the project. The project Performance Management Plan (PMP) and Monitoring and Evaluation Plan were also submitted together with the work plan. The project team conducted introductory meetings with key stakeholders from the ministries, research institutes, and other partners working in the sector to present and discuss the project goal and objectives, as well as activities planned in Year 1. The team also identified common areas of collaboration and recommendations for inclusion into the Year 1 work plan. In addition, the Data Component team compiled a list of datasets required for the development of a water resources database and decision support tools for the Ararat Valley and shared it with the USGS and USAID Global Lab, who will be providing assistance in receiving some datasets and high-resolution satellite images. The tender for the inventory of wells in the Ararat Valley was announced, and the team provided important support to the Ministry of Nature Protection/WRMA on the Southern Basin Plan and Ecological Flow Calculation Method. The Pilot Technologies team started market research on potentially feasible energy and water technologies to be applied in fish farms, and the data will be summarized in a respective report. The ASPIRED project also facilitated the establishment of an Interagency Task Force to accomplish the study of optimal water fee rates for water abstraction by fisheries and provide recommendations to the Government. The first meeting of the Task Force will take place in January 2016. The project PMP as well as M&E Plan were submitted to USAID in December 2015, but there were no updates with indicators in the past quarter, so the PMP is not reported now. The project team will continue to focus on the implementation of the work plan and the achievement of the project objectives.