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

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

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.

The Nile Basin

• 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

The Nile Basin Challenges

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.

• 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 comprehensiveand integrated fashion?

Key Questions

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

Knowledge and Capacity Development Framework

• Main building blocks

• Individual• Organisational• Institutional and Enabling Environment• Communities and Civil Society

Sector Performance

The individual level

Factual knowledgeUnderstandingSkills Attitudes

• Explicit knowledge:TrainingEducationResearch• Tacit knowledge:ApprenticeshipPeer learningLearning-by-doing• Networking

Existing capacity: Can be developed through:

Technical competenceManagerial competenceGovernance competenceCompetence for continuous learning

Indicator/attribute:

Knowledge and Capacity Development Framework (Contd.)

Factual knowledgeUnderstandingSkills Attitudes

Developed capacity:

The Example:

Nile Basin Capacity Building Network

NBCBN

Approach for Establishing a Capacity Building Network for the Nile Basin (NBCBN)

Next Node to be officially launched: South Sudan, 2014

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

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

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

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)

• 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

NBCBN in Numbers

www.nbcbn.com, www.nilebasin-knowledgemap.com www.nilebasin-journal.com

Developing a Future Strategy for a Sustainable Knowledge Network for the Nile Basin

Review of CD Demands for Nile Basin Water professionals..........as identified in 2010

K-Application(Specialised Training)

K-Dissemination(Generic Training

& Education)

K-Generation(Research)

Main Future Target: Closing the Knowledge Cycle

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

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.)

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

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

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

Purpose of 5th Symposium

Thanks for your attention

Amel M. AzabNile Basin Capacity Building Network

a_azab@nbcbn.net