Messages and meaning - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 214

Community empowerment helps achieve long-term benefits
In the Nile and in the Andes, the CPWF experienced the importance of local
community empowerment and leadership, especially where collective action
was needed. Based on demand, equity and inclusiveness, it was critically
important to achieve long-term benefits and sustainable outcomes from
rainwater management and benefit-sharing programs.
Empowerment may also require regulations and safeguards, as noted by the
Mekong team: “Protocols and safeguards are critical to implementing and
monitoring hydropower dams.” Successful integrated water resources man-
agement depends on interactions among multiple actors at different scales. The
companion modeling approach was a good framework to highlight interactions
among actors and allow for a collective decision-making process to unfold
(Volta). Processes to facilitate engagement for assessing options and oppor-
tunities enabled farmers to identify and choose the best options for themselves
(Limpopo).
Some kinds of engagement platforms can empower local actors to hold
higher levels of government to account (Andes). Power relationships influenced
the course of dialogue and negotiation. They figured prominently in the
process of moving from outputs to outcomes (Chapter 7).
Modeling tools developed with stakeholders can support and inform
engagement
Modeling tools developed with stakeholders supported capacity and consensus
building and increased the effectiveness of policy analysis, planning and
implementation. The CPWF developed and applied various modeling tools
and invested in systematic data acquisition, especially spatially explicit data at
basin and lower scales using geographic information systems.
The Ganges team observed that, “the effectiveness of planning, technology
targeting, open dialogues and consensus building among multiple stakeholders
can be increased by access to modeling and spatial analysis at different scales
for scenario-based planning and target domain identification.”
The Nile team observed that, “adapting and using the growing suite of new
models and learning and planning tools, including those piloted by the Nile
BDC, combined with stronger learning processes, increased the effectiveness of
planning, implementation, and capacity building.” These models and tools
included: (i) integrated hydrologic, water resource and economic models for
planning, scaling out and impact assessments; (ii) user-friendly tools to facili-
tate local-level learning, training, and identifying appropriate interventions;
and (iii) a centralized database for geographical and other data, which could
enhance the efficiency of planning, implementation, learning and evaluation
processes.
In the Mekong the CPWF observed that only models developed with
substantial participation of stakeholders through dialogues or participatory
modeling gained meaning for researchers and decision-makers.