Harnessing research for development to tackle wicked problems - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 56

local realities and people, national policy frameworks and included relevant,
knowledgeable partners. In the following sections we reflect upon partnerships,
networks and engagement.
Across the basins, the project teams learned the importance of engaging the
intended “targets” of the research from the outset, which blurred the bound-
aries between researchers and users. This ensured that the research was owned
and used by different users.
Quintero (2012) identified a number of principles for engaging different
types of partners:

• Share resources and capacities: The project achieved agreements with users

who provided human and sometimes financial resources to implement
agreed activities.

• Define the research agenda jointly, if necessary explaining to partners

simply and understandably the required methods and approaches.

• Ensure that partners understand the research results.

• Hold all public meetings jointly with partners, emphasizing the inter-

institutional collaboration toward common objectives.

• Let others lead the process of creating a benefit-sharing mechanism

(BSM), while providing support to their arguments and BSM designs with
research results.

• Be flexible toward changing original plans; in some cases the orientation of

analysis has to change. For example, in some cases it was more important to
value the benefits already produced by ecosystem services than assume the
opportunity cost of changing the supply level of the services.

Trust
Fruitful partnerships are built on trust, but developing social capital and gaining
partners' trust takes time. For example, the Mekong BDC focused on sustain-
able hydropower. This is contentious and highly political with many con-
flicting interests (Lebel et al., 2010). The Mekong BDC achieved the status of
trusted broker by providing neutral ground where dialogue could take place. It
manifested trust, exemplified by the annual high-level Mekong Forum
convened by the BDC (Geheb, 2012).

Common vision
R4D progresses when partners share a common vision of a development
challenge and the ways to address it. A common vision means a common
vocabulary, which helps each partner see their role and how they might
contribute. The vision may evolve through learning selection. The program
vision should be part of the ToC.
The Limpopo BDC showed that a common vision that all partners can
accept and follow could be flexible by allowing for change as the program