Evaluation of the methodology of CGIAR global water and food challenge program, in the management of Karkhe River basins, Iran

Karkheh watershed is located in the western to southwestern region of Iran and in a dry to semi-arid region. The existence of different agricultural systems, including irrigated and rainfed agriculture, low water efficiency, the existence of production limitations (salinity and drainage management in the downstream), poverty and lack of livelihood of local communities (upstream), the issues of upstream-downstream impacts of the basin, environmental issues, etc., led to the proposal of the Karkheh watershed as a suitable model in the country for the CGIAR Global Water and Food Challenge Program (known as CPWF). Therefore, this basin was chosen as one of the representative watersheds among the other nine watersheds of this global program, as a model for arid and semi-arid regions of the world, and the program was implemented during phase one of the program (2004 to 2008). In the implementation of this program, approaches, organization and mechanism, management structure, technical and program criteria, basin management principles, stakeholders' participation, innovations and ways of presenting outputs, in different stages of basin selection, program start and during The implementation of projects approved by the program were adopted and used. The main objective of this article is to document the methodology used during the process of implementing the CPWF international research and development program in the Karkheh Basin, so that its hidden knowledge is revealed, related experiences and achievements are documented, and used for future uses in other similar projects in this or other basins in the country. The study method is mainly based and derived from the study and analysis of program documentation archives, reports, discussions held during the meetings, the results of workshops and national and international conferences and the reports of the field visits carried out during the implementation of the global CPWF program and the implementation of this program in Karkheh basin. Among the important achievements and methodologies and the documented indicators of the program, one can include the methodology of collaborative development of technologies, the examination of the paths of project results, the criteria for selecting research sites, and the methodology for determining the principles of integrated watershed management which are presented and explained in detail in this article.