The ORASECOM Agreement establishes the Council as a technical advisor to the Parties, as well as setting out the objectives and functions of the Council, how it will conduct its business in relation to general and financial obligations, how disputes are to be settled and the mechanisms for withdrawing from the Agreement. Article 5 of the ORASECOM Agreement provides a number of key focus areas for recommendations, indicating that Council can make recommendations on the form and extent of stakeholder participation required. However, the Agreement does not detail how stakeholders should participate in making recommendations or ORASECOM functioning, but notes that the Council shall take “all measures required to make recommendations or to advise the Parties”. This may require stakeholder participation to ensure that the recommendations are viable and implementable. This report addresses stakeholder participation in ORASECOM functioning and not that required to develop implementable recommendations.

In May 2005 the four Ministers of the riparian countries gave a clear mandate to the Commissioners to develop modalities for stakeholder engagement with ORASECOM. In February 2006 Member States and other stakeholders mapped out what could be considered as key elements of a stakeholder participation strategy. Thereafter, findings were refined into a Stakeholder Roadmap that provides a broad framework by describing a progressive development of participatory approaches. This is done via four key focus areas with the provision of a number of suggestions and options that will assist in constructing a stakeholder participation process. The Roadmap does not differentiate between stakeholder participation in projects and participation in the business of ORASECOM. This study builds on this Roadmap by articulating the steps to allow for the progressive implementation of the ORASECOM Stakeholder Roadmap with regard to the latter.