SYMPOSIUM DAILY CHALLENGES Challenges in

the Water Sector

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Welcome Reception

Welcome to the first day of the 5th Delft Symposium on Water Sector Capacity Development. For the next three days you will be challenged to discuss current realities, new opportunities for knowledge and capacity development in the water sector with international water professionals and managers, development practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and capacity development specialists. Join the Plenary session at 14:00 hrs. in A1 where a panel discussion will be held to discuss challenges for water sector capacity development. Panelists include Dr. Salmah Zakaria, Economic Affairs Officer at UNESCAP, Dr. Keizrul bin Abdullah, Chairperson of the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations and Dr. Amel Moustafa Azab from the NBCBN.

Tonight a welcome reception will be held for all Symposium participants. Please join us at 18:00 hrs. in the restaurant.

The workshop used a special method enabling participants to go through a very creative and interactive knowledge-sharing journey. The workshop agenda started with a brief online survey three weeks prior to the workshop whereby participants were asked to rank the 12 most critical issues (from a list of 18) by order of relevance for discussion at the Expert Workshop. “Strengthening the leadership abilities of water professionals,” and “How to foster locally-driven capacity development” were the top two items on the discussion topics list. Other issues discussed included:

How to enhance capacity development to effectively address nexus issues (water-energy-food) Making the business case for capacity development How to arrive at a coherent national strategy for capacity development for the benefit of the water sector Improving organizational capacity: the key for addressing water-

Expert Workshop Outcomes Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 May, a few days prior to the symposium, an expert workshop was held where 37 experts from around the world were invited to share their knowledge and experiences on critical issues to make knowledge and capacity development in the water sector more effective and efficient. Some of the main outcomes of the workshop will feed into selected symposium sessions this week.

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related problems ● Improved measuring, monitoring

and evaluation of capacity development

● How to foster regional and country-level networks and partnerships for water sector capacity development

● How to step up sector-wide and inter-sectoral approaches to capacity development

● Improving the quality of water education

● Fostering community-based initiatives and the role of civil society in water sector capacity development

● "Fostering 'inter-generational cooperation' (senior and junior professionals working/learning together) to improve water sector capacity development."

Facilitators Dr. David Beatty, Stephan Verveen and Ron Otten finally led the group through a fun, inspiring, engaging and intense two-day workshop whereby the following next steps and main recommendations were made. Solutions and approach for water education and training Paul Yillia, Programme Coordinator at WASH, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), represented the group: Solutions and approach for water education and training. Paul explains: “We can build on existing programmes and activities to not duplicate work that has already been done. Capacities need to be brought to the local level, and for this, community-based organizations are much needed. They can link needs at the community level to the institutions that are building these capacities. But maybe the institutions are not ready to do it, perhaps it is too costly and the communities may not be able to cover these costs. The question is then who pays? Can the government pool together resources to support these types of activities? Whether it is training or education, when it has economical value, it will be more sustainable.” The group also discussed various examples from the field and talked about challenges. “Discussion on national strategies have to continue. Strategies need to be developed that

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also really reflect the needs on the ground. We need to realize that education does not always take place in a classroom setting. Before we have never thought about developing capacities through the development and implementation of tailored national strategies. We realize now that water education should be linked to the national strategy, the nexus theme and the leadership theme.” He continued: “Recommendations for improvement are still valid. We need to continue what we have been doing. We have for instance never thought about the importance of leadership. By integrating all of these ideas and linking them to the various themes we will continue to move forward in the development of effective and efficient strategies.” Leadership and Intergenerational Cooperation Luca di Mario, PhD Fellow at the University of Cambridge represented the group that discussed ‘Leadership and Intergenerational Cooperation’. “By joining up the group on leadership with that on international cooperation, we discovered common points in developing leadership and realized that there are so many linkages and common ground to start with or to further develop. But we all agreed on the fact that leadership should start with the development of young professionals.” One of the group’s main conclusions is to develop leadership programmes for youth (16-24 yrs) and young professionals (25+) at the postgraduate level, thereby also involving neglected young professionals. Scaling up leadership programmes through the building of relevant networks as well as creating a hub of data and awareness related to leadership skills development, and linking seniors and juniors to one another were also amongst the group’s recommendations. “Organizations, companies and educational institutes need to form alliances to build these programmes.” Joakim Harlin from

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UNDP explained: “Training, coaching and mentoring cannot be done in the classroom. What is vital is that we need to create an enabling environment. Within water education we need to include more interdisciplinary skills, for instance communication and negotiation skills in addition to the development of technical skills. Young emerging leaders need to take on a real role and be involved in networks and work jointly in different apprenticeship and training programmes where they can work with more senior professionals to travel and do fieldwork.” The rest of the participants agreed and remarked that leadership should be identified locally to also be useful and effective at the local level. Also, there is a need to clarify and explore further whether youth or young people should be identified by age or by educational level. Business Case Håkan Tropp, Director of the UNDP Water Governance Facility at the Stockholm International Water Institute, who represented the ‘Business Case’ group then said: “Priorities in terms of resources need to be identified. The question whether water is related to climate, energy, tourism, water and sanitation, differs from locality to locality. Our aim was to get out the fundamentals for the discussions.” He adds: “The process of Capacity Development should be more visible and better documented. Ownership is one of the key factors related to this. Capacity Development needs to be linked concrete problems in order to make a case. It is necessary to convince people that Capacity Development is not only about sitting

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in a meeting room, much like this one we are now sitting in, but can actually also solve many issues on the ground. The importance of developing inclusive partnerships and networks is that it can promote innovation, leverage training opportunities through networks, leverage funds, and link various types of knowledge as well. The benefits of partnerships and networks really need to be highlighted.” The group also discussed that the world is changing and organizations involved in Capacity Development also need to explore new markets and form new types of partnerships. “How do we make our own business case as organizations? What types of business models do we see in the future? Target groups and audiences may vary of course, but narratives and arguments to support the case need to be developed.” Finally he mentions: “We need to acknowledge the obstacles and limitations of Capacity Development as well. It can be difficult to measure the impacts of Capacity Development, because sometimes the effects are only visible or measurable 10 to 15 years down the line. These are some of the challenges we are facing. Knowledge management is important to support these cases. Can we better document what Capacity Development activities we are carrying out in order to make a better business case? We should never assume that the value of Capacity Development is widely known or even recognized. This group here may already be convinced but think about the target group or donor who does not know much about it.” Learning Jenny Pearson, an independent consultant shared the ‘Learning’ group discussion outcomes and gave her view on the definition of learning. “In my view it is the process of using combined knowledge and experience to inform changes in our practice.” She continued to explain that the group looked at learning using a specific case study of a new UNESCAP recommendation for IWRM-related knowledge sharing and cooperation in 62 countries in

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the Asia and Pacific region. “We looked at learning as a mechanism for Capacity Development to implement the resolution in the various countries. We tried to use the Learning Map method by answering fundamental questions, including: Who are the key stakeholders? Where is the learning happening already?” She elaborated: “We saw in one country that the learning processes that currently exist were quite limited. So defining who else needs to learn, what they need to learn, and also from whom they can learn, are vital questions to be answered. This is the basis to understand how learning needs to happen and also to understand how to implement policies.” Uta Wehn de Montalvo, Senior Researcher and Programme Coordinator Knowledge & Capacity Development in the Water Sector at UNESCO-IHE, then continued: “The next steps are to draw on the country case studies that have been produced for the Symposium to inform the implementation of the resolution for other Asia and Pacific countries. These cover the dynamics of knowledge and Capacity Development in these countries in the water sector specifically. We could also investigate three specific case studies for the implementation of the resolution through UNESCO-IHE MSc research.” She adds: “Our group recommends to identify a neutral actor in the country to undertake such a learning systems mapping exercise in order to identify the gaps that need to be bridged. In this way we can see how to address this, and also who can do it most effectively and efficiently, thereby recognizing that local value systems behind learning differ so much between countries.” Locally driven Capacity Development Stephen Donkor, Senior Regional Officer of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and Isaac Liabwel Chadak Yol, Under

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Secretary to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) of Juba in the Republic of South Sudan presented outcomes from their group discussions on ‘Locally Driven Capacity Development’. “It is vital that local stakeholders are included to be the driving force for change. Creating awareness regarding interventions requires sharing the larger picture with local communities whereby locally driven Capacity Development efforts should always be made context specific. This should always be part of the national strategies that need to be developed and should be at the beginning of each project within each community involved. A way to do this could be to identify local leadership and fostering it from the beginning.” He continued: “ Ideas need to be generated to mobilize local funds, including micro-financing opportunities. By encouraging networking and partnerships within the communities themselves and with others, interventions will become part of a larger initiative and are therefore not isolated efforts. Locally driven activities should follow values of the communities whereby always the most cost-effective form of Capacity Development should be sought. Also, public education in a broader sense should be taken into account in all of these efforts. The group also discussed which existing initiatives have already been developed and can be further expanded throughout the course of the Symposium in the coming days to better respond to the existing needs in the field. National Strategies Jan Luijendijk, Senior Programme Manager Knowledge and Capacity

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Building Projects presented work his group on ‘National Strategies’ discussed during the two-day Workshop. “A national Water Capacity Development strategy can be used as an instrument for change. We also want to do it differently. We should call it more than a training or education programme. Our view on how to develop the strategy is to include all the relevant stakeholders and not merely one party, such as the government in many countries. A focus should be put on individual and organizational learning. But with any strategy you put in place, you can only see whether it is successful when you monitor progress and achievements. Good and smart indicators are needed for this purpose,” he said. The group on National Strategies pooled together many great ideas and examples and a follow-up action is to jointly develop a white paper that can be connected to a number of countries including Egypt, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Bangladesh, South Sudan and Afghanistan. These countries have expressed an interest to go forward in the

STAY INFORMED This Symposium Daily is developed for you by the UNESCO-IHE Communications Team. We are working together with volunteers from TheWaterChannel.tv, the International Water and Sanitation Centre IRC, Delft Technical University, the Let's Talk About Water Programme, and many other editorial contributors.

development and implementation of a national strategy. The next steps are to create a ‘think tank’ of people with authority in the field and represent a group of wise, young professionals who are enthusiastic and eager to be involved in the process. It was mentioned that universities or the Business Forum in various countries could also be part of the consortium. Finally he mentioned that good ideas need marketing to encourage support and funding. “We can for instance showcase many of these initiatives at the Stockholm International World Water Week. But to do this well we need leaders who can do this and take it to the next level.” Networks and Partnerships Networks and Partnerships are key to knowledge and capacity development leadership for impact on the ground. The group incorporated many of the ideas from the other discussion themes and developed a matrix of follow-

up activities, actors and formulated their goals in a SMART way. Some of the recommendation for follow-up action included improving the holistic approach to improve the focus on soft and hard capacities to understand Capacity Development indicators, creating a task group between Cap-net, Wageningen University and UNESCO-IHE, but also initiatives such as a locally driven Capacity Development Workshop in the Central American region. It was proposed to collaborate on the design of a short course on developing water leaders whereby the target group would include Cap-Net network managers as well as linking up with Capacity Development networks at the national and regional level. Finally it was mentioned that the benefits of networking and partnerships and the multiplying of training opportunities can be achieved by enhancing the content of the training programme and raising support for Capacity Development through diverse funding sources, including the Ministries of Environment in countries such as Costa Rica/Guyana.

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