Strategic Analysis for the Better Performance and More Authority of Iran’s Supreme Water Council Using SWOT Method

The Iran’s Supreme Water Council (SWC) was established in 2000 with the aim of creating the necessary institutional and organizational bases for the coordination of policies on water supply, distribution and consumption. However, two decades after its inception, the fact that the water management issues are becoming more complex and deeper and the discrepancies in the policies, actions, and their consequences are widening, raise the questions that; to what extent has the SWC been successful in its missions, and to what extent has it had the necessary effectiveness and authority in resolving the conflicts and applying good water governance in the country. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is to present the results and achievements in identifying, reviewing and analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the SWC and to conclude the strategies and action plan needed to improve the performance of the SWC. The methodology used is based on the formation of an expert working group from different disciplines and sectors and holding brain storming meetings to harvest ideas of stakeholders. Finally the study employed a combination of SWOT technology and matrix technique (IFE-EFE Matrix) to evaluate internal and external factors for analyzing the results. The study identified 11 strengths (S), 10 weaknesses (W), 9 opportunities (O) and 7 threats (T) in regards of the SWC. According to the calculated scores for internal and external factors (i.e. 2.34 and 2.62, respectively), the intersection of these two values in the SWOT diagram located in the “WO” zone, which indicated that the main strategy to be followed to improve the authority of the SWC, would be an adaptive (conservative) strategy. For greater effectiveness and authority of the SWC, a new vision and mission was developed. Also, five sub-main strategies and 21 actions were identified to improve the performance and authority of the SWC. The proposed action plan was tailored to the identified sub-strategies, and then weighted and prioritized. The results indicated that in good water governance and for coordinated policy-making, the spirit of inter-institutional cooperation between government institutions should be accepted as a fundamental principle and the social interactions of the council should be increased. It is also necessary to expand the council's cooperation with ministries within the executive branch, the judiciary branch, the legislative branch, universities, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders.