Partnerships, platforms and power - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 161

The most successful engagement platforms are demand driven, solution
oriented, evolve over time and embrace multiple perspectives
An engagement platform is not a committee but a dynamic entity. Whilst there
is a core group, members come and go as the problems change. Different
stakeholders can be involved at different times, depending on the issues being
discussed. The challenge that the platform facilitators face is to define and
engage those who should be involved at critical junctures as not everyone need
be involved all the time. At different stages different people might be involved.
Build on what is already there rather than set up new platforms and systems
It takes time and other resources to set up platforms, to get members to under-
stand what platforms are and how they function, to build trust and develop a
collective vision and agenda. Inviting multiple perspectives also means that
there is a need to understand different agendas and sometimes conflicting
mandates. For all these reasons, engagement platforms are best developed
around existing relationships, networks and structures. In the Limpopo Basin,
the CPWF used existing national-level platforms (through the Food,
Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN),
the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa and WaterNet, while also
linking to the Southern African Development Community (SADC)) and the
Limpopo Watercourse Commission to channel its research results. This ensured
that results related to regionally relevant development priorities and that the
information decision-makers requested came from the research.
Engagement platforms are not neutral mechanisms: They aim to promote
change so they are disruptive by nature
Changing existing dynamics is likely to distribute consequences across groups
and may have unanticipated results. Engagement platforms can help balance
vested interests in policy-making processes but unless power dynamics are
recognized and addressed, engagement platforms can reinforce existing
inequalities. Addressing power and representation during the stage of setting up
a project can help make engagement platforms more equitable and effective.
Engagement platforms are based on assumptions that members represent the
various groups involved and are able to work together for their mutual benefit.
They assume that better communication and knowledge sharing will help
people understand each other's perspectives. They further assume that people
can identify and agree on a common problem and work together to solve it.
These assumptions need to be challenged in each case.