Harnessing research for development to tackle wicked problems - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 58

endorsed by the Ethiopian stakeholders, including policy-makers (Merrey et
al., 2013).
Convening power
A basin R4D program is best managed by an organization with convening
power. CPWF teams contracted regional institutions that had convening power
to lead the engagement effort: the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN, Limpopo), Consortio para del
Desarrollo Sonstenible de la Ecoregión Andina (CONDESAN, Andes) and
Volta Basin Authority (Volta). In the Ganges, leaders were local partners
(Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee).
The organization itself may have convening power (FANRPAN and
CONDESAN) or a new platform might be necessary. In the Mekong, the
CPWF Mekong coordination and change project became a trusted convener
of hydropower stakeholders (investors, governments, NGOs and development
agencies) in a contentious field of work (WLE, 2013).
Convening power is based on social capital including trust, credibility,
relevance and mandate. It is most effective when combined with easy access to
high-level decision-makers. But developing social capital takes time and is
vulnerable to external shocks, for example, unanticipated budget cuts or
national or regional policy adjustments. Convening power has been consistent
across all six CPWF basins, increasing over time. As the CPWF shared its
research results with partners, it established and defined common interests
better. It was then able to engage with complex policy-level issues.
Complexity and adaptive management
Social development and policy change are long-term, non-linear processes,
full of short-term decisions that directly influence progress. It is therefore
important to be flexible and to change plans if the circumstances require it.
All BDCs have examples of complexity and adaptive management. The Nile
BDC learned that successful landscape management required reconciling top-
down national priorities for soil and water conservation with community needs
(Merrey and Gebreselassie, 2011; Ludi et al., 2013). The Ganges BDC adjusted
its research questions several times as they better understood the complex
interrelationships between system intensification, the component technologies
of the farming systems, the coordination and timing of water control, the
design, repair and management of rural infrastructure, and the overlap between
national and local government policies and priorities (George and Meisner,
2013). The Limpopo BDC built on past achievements but also found new
ways forward for the design of water infrastructure for multiple uses, and
market development for small livestock (van Koppen et al., 2009; van Rooyen
and Homann-Kee Tui, 2009; Sullivan, 2012). In the process, partners adjusted
to how they perceived and addressed opportunities.