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Challenges and Responses for Water Education in a Changing Environment

This article discusses the challenges faced in water education and capacity development, particularly in the Nile Basin, and explores how knowledge networks can contribute to addressing these challenges.

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Challenges and Responses for Water Education in a Changing Environment

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  1. CHALLANGES AND RESPONSES FOR WATER EDUCATION IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT • THE CHALLENGES IN THE NILE BASIN: HOW CAN NETWORKS CONTRIBUTE TO WATER CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT • AMEL M. AZAB • 29TH MAY 2013

  2. Contents • The Nile Basin • Key Issues and Challanges • Knowledge Management Challenges • Knowledge and Capacity Development Framework • Role of knowledge Networks in CD • Highlights from the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network

  3. The Nile Basin Facts • Area: about 3.0 million km2. • Area of Lakes is 81500 km2. • Area of swamps is 70000 km2 • Length: more than 6000 km. • 11 Riparian States with 250 million people • 5 States are among the Ten Poorest in World.

  4. The Nile Basin Challenges • Rapid population growth, • Instability, • Environmental degradation, • Poverty, • Complicated hydrology • Low specific yield • The transboundary nature of the river • Increasing concern about the impacts of climate change • Capacity Building and Knowledge Management

  5. The Main Issue Lack of technology or funding are no longer the main obstacles for development. The real bottleneck lies in the availability of needed capacities to address the problems in an effective and sustainable manner.

  6. Key Questions • What capacities do we need, and for what? • Do we know what capacities we have and where are they located? • Are we making effective use of our existing capabilities and if not, why not? • How can we pool and build upon existing capacities at regional and national levels? • What are our real capacity challenges and how do we address them in a comprehensive • and integrated fashion?

  7. Capacity & Knowledge Management Challenges for the Nile • The structural lack of research-capacity in the water sector • Limited trust and partnership • Little or no R&D by local experts • The absence of an effective operational co-operative framework • No contextual on-the-job training • The need for practical and creative solutions • No regional water knowledge base in the Basin

  8. Knowledge and Capacity Development Framework • Main building blocks • Individual • Organisational • Institutional and Enabling Environment • Communities and Civil Society Sector Performance

  9. Knowledge and Capacity Development Framework (Contd.) The individual level Existing capacity: Can be developed through: Developed capacity: Indicator/attribute: Factual knowledge Understanding Skills Attitudes • Explicit knowledge: • Training • Education • Research • Tacit knowledge: • Apprenticeship • Peer learning • Learning-by-doing • Networking Factual knowledge Understanding Skills Attitudes Technical competence Managerial competence Governance competence Competence for continuous learning

  10. The Example: Nile Basin Capacity Building NetworkNBCBN

  11. Approach for Establishing a Capacity Building Network for the Nile Basin (NBCBN) Next Node to be officially launched: South Sudan, 2014

  12. NBCBN Tools for Capacity Development • Collaborative research (regional and local) • Research clusters around specific themes • Communities of practice (Cop’s) • ICT products • Communication and knowledge sharing platforms • Creating enabling environment for building trust, commitment and leadership

  13. Evolving of NBCBN to cope with CD needs in the Nile Basin

  14. Main CD Demands for Nile basin Water professionals..........as identified in 2002 launch event • To focus on CD in the field of River Engineering (NBCBN-RE) • To work around the following regional research themes (clusters): • Flood Management • River Morphology • River Structures • Environmental Aspects of River Engineering • Applications of GIS and Modelling tools • Hydropower Development

  15. Review of CD Demands for Nile basin Water professionals..........as identified in 2006 2nd Phase • Including new Research Modalites (2006-2010) • Regional Clusters research • Local Action research • Integrated research • Multidiscplinary Research • Including specialised training courses that supports different research Modalities (in collaboration with CB partners)

  16. NBCBN in Numbers • Linked countries : 10 • Number of Nodes : 9 • Number of members : 500 • Active members :250 • Years in business : 12 • Research Clusters : 6 • Cop’s : 13 • Research projects : 36 • Workshops and events: > 50 www.nbcbn.com, www.nilebasin-knowledgemap.com www.nilebasin-journal.com

  17. Review of CD Demands for Nile Basin Water professionals..........as identified in 2010 Developing a Future Strategy for a Sustainable Knowledge Network for the Nile Basin

  18. Main Future Target: Closing the Knowledge Cycle K-Application (Specialised Training) K-Generation (Research) K-Dissemination (Generic Training & Education)

  19. New Identified Demand Areas For Capacity Development of Nile Water Professionals (2014-2017) • In Research • Climate change impacts, adaptation and resilience • Water scarcity • Hydropower developement (large and mini hydropower) • Ecosystems and wetlands Management • Water supply & sanitation • Water Quality • Ground water development

  20. In Training and Education • Link all Nile Basin participating universities in an Edu-network (Sub network of the NBCBN). • Create partnerships towards Regional Water program (s) (with connections to research clusters and local universities in the Nile basin countries) • Program modules (offered as short courses for network members) • Regular (demand driven) short courses for network members • Linking applied research and developed case studies with related training activities • New education areas, based on new COP’s and inter-disciplinairy collaboration (Climate Change , Water scarcity,…etc.)

  21. More Challanges for the Nile Basin........ • The need for professional capacities in different fields to support developmental projects • Limited group of local expertise (climate change, Hydropower, water scarcity,....) • Very limited effective young leadership • Fragmented capacity building activities on local and regional levels • Lack of regional and national strategies for water CD in most of the countries • Need for effective and innovative tools to measure CD • Political Instability • Diminishing funds and donors support

  22. Conclusions • Cooperation and partnerships are the key to sustainable development of shared water resources. • Capacity building is a natural and continous process that should be linked to demands and real needs on different levels. • Soft Capacity Development should be measured according to real impacts and better performance of the water sector? • Equal attention to hard and soft capacites development is important to create young effective leadership. • Developing and evalauting national and regional CD strategies • Engage the private sector to support and invest in water CD

  23. Focal persons from the nodes of NBCBN-RE who contributed to Cairo Declaration, 2002

  24. Purpose of 5th Symposium Thanks for your attention Amel M. Azab Nile Basin Capacity Building Network a_azab@nbcbn.net

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