The Symposium used a mix of webinars, plenaries, chat rooms, and video conferencing, bringing together scholars, decision-makers and practitioners to discuss the current and future role of capacity development in water policy, practice, and education.
The final outcome of the symposium is the Delft Agenda and Symposium Report, compiling the recommendations from all the different sessions – with focus on the potential for implementation science in developing future water capacity.
In addition to keynotes on implementation science, models for education, and managing organisational change, the symposium featured 8 tracks focused on a range of topics, from an introductory programme on implementation science to arranging financing to using big data.
Lessons from local community engagement
GWP Senior Network Specialist Julienne Roux hosted a session on ‘Reaching and engaging local communities’. The session featured 3 case studies around different approaches to engaging local communities, followed by discussion.
- Sruthi Pillai, a Research Scholar of the Institute of Technology Bombay, presented a case study from Kerala on the mobilisation of students and engagement with local communities and institutions to address pollution issues.
- Adebimpe Alonge, of Nigeria’s National Environmental Standards and regulations Enforcement Agency, talked about the value of using traditional communication mediums such as town criers, talking drums, and peer-to-peer groups, which risk being overlooked as attention is increasingly shifting to internet-based communications.
- Reinier Veldman, Programme Manager for MetaMeta/SMART Centre Group, shared a case study from Malawi, which showed the power of training faith leaders for the sensitisation of communities.
In addition to the case studies, Liliana Arrieta of the REDICA network shared a poster presentation from Central America on the importance of menstrual hygiene management for women empowerment.
Key recommendations
The outcomes of the session were shared and further discussed in the concluding session of Track 6 of the Symposium, which focused on accelerating knowledge sharing among organisations in civil society. This process is leading to the identification of key recommendations for reaching and engaging local communities, which will feed into the Delft Agenda.
It is critical that local communities should be at the centre and listened to. There are different levels of engagement, from sharing information, consultation, planning together, acting & learning together, to community directed – it is important to systematically create space for ideas of the communities, local knowledge, empowerment, and establish a two-way flow of communication.
Key interlinked dimensions to be incorporated when engaging include:
- Attention to gender inclusion and proactive engagement of women
- Enhanced engagement with young people
- Need for an issue-driven, context specific and deliberate approach to engagement.
- Effective mediators and channels for engagement include local leaders, traditional leaders, faith leaders, students, natural leaders, self-help group organizers, and traditional communication channels.
- For upscaling and impact, it is important to bridge communities and institutions
- Enhancing the enabling environment for engagement: supportive policies, guidelines, sensitization and training of staff, adequate resources