SanMark Community of Practice

The Sanitation Marketing (SanMark) Community of Practice  is a WASH Reference Group initiative supported by the AusAID Innovations Fund and managed by WaterAid Australia.

The WASH Reference Group is an Australian-based Community of Practice comprising 25 organisations working on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in developing countries, including NGOs, research organisations and the Australian water industry.

The website provides information on SanMark webinars and in-country training events. Visitors to the website can submit a question (Ask an Expert), contribute a case study, story, experience or photographs to the SanMark blog, and apply online for a SanMark practitioner training. There is also section on resources (links and tools) and news.

Website: www.sanitationmarketing.com

Documenting change : an introduction to process documentation

Da Silva Wells, C. et al., 2011. Documenting change : an introduction to process documentation. (Occasional paper series / IRC; 47). The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. 41 p.; 1 fig.; 7 tab.; 7 boxes. With a list of resources, toolkits and references on p. 34 – 37.
Available at: <http://www.irc.nl/page/67642> [Accessed 13 December 2011].

Documenting change is a vitally important activity for learning from and improving upon the work carried out in development initiatives. While collecting information and analysing key activities and outcomes of a project do provide initial insights, documenting how a change process unfolds (and not just their outcomes) can provide strong (and new) insights for practice and learning. This is achieved by highlighting factors that lead to an initiative’s outcomes.

In this Occasional Paper, IRC consolidates lessons learned across a range of IRC projects and describes the resultant and emerging understanding of how process documentation can promote learning and action through joint reflection and analysis. This Occasional Paper also offers tools for collecting and presenting observations that stimulate reflection, learning and sharing.

The lessons, concepts and tools presented in this paper are relevant for project designers, managers and field staff members involved in conducting monitoring and communications tasks. This paper may also be of interest for donors as it provides an example of enhanced forms of documentation that enables more effective monitoring, evaluation and sharing of lessons.

Collaborative learning in practice: examples from natural resource management in Asia

Vernooy, R. (ed). (2010). Collaborative learning in practice : examples from natural resource management in Asia. Ottawa, ON, Canada, Foundation Books/IDRC. 194 p.
ISBN 978-81-7596-712-0. e-ISBN 978-1-55250-472-7
Read online/order

Drawing on research and practical experiences from China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, this book presents and analyzes novel approaches to collaborative learning and communities of practice. Case studies show how, through joint efforts with researchers and other actors, local communities address and learn from challenges in managing natural resources. They demonstrate the merits of learning strategies that use a variety of methods, that are grounded in the local context, that involve facilitators, that are monitored from the outset, and where there is a strong environment of collaboration and dynamic process management. The book shows that learning strategies that are both innovative and collaborative can lead to sounder rural development.

Collaborative Learning in Practice will be of interest to academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in development studies; practitioners and development professionals, particularly in the fields of capacity building and participatory action methodologies; as well as program managers and decision-makers in donor organizations and development agencies worldwide.

Contents

• Foreword – Niels Röling; Acknowledgements and Preface – Ronnie Vernooy
• Chapter 1: Toward Centres of Excellence for CBNRM (Community-Based Natural Resource Management) – Ronnie Vernooy and Guy Bessette, with Dindo Campilan and Kevin Kelpin
• Chapter 2: Participatory Research and Development in South Asia – Dindo Campilan and Rajindra Ariyabandu with Pratap Shrestha, Raghav Raj Regmi, Carlos Basilio, and Julian Gonsalves
• Chapter 3: Adaptive Learning: From Isang Bagsak to the ALL in CBNRM Programme – Maria Celeste H. Cadiz and Winifredo B. Dagli
• Chapter 4: Mainstreaming CBNRM in Chinese Higher Education – Zhang Li, Qi Gubo, and Ronnie Vernooy, with Long Zhipu and Jingsong Li
• Chapter 5: Comparing the Case Studies – Ronnie Vernooy, Maria Celeste H. Cadiz, Dindo Campilan, Qi Gubo, and Zhang Li
• References; Notes on Contributors

Investing in water information, knowledge and monitoring

Winpenny, J. (2009). Investing in information, knowledge and monitoring. (The United Nations World Water Assessment Programme. Side publication series. Scientific papers). Paris, France, UNESCO. 16 p. ISBN 978-92-3-104113-6
Download here

Even though information about water is as essential to life as the water itself, this paper argues that not enough information is produced. From both a social viewpoint, insufficient resources are invested in the supply and dissemination of water information. From an economic perspective, water information is undersupplied,  due essentially to its characteristic as a public good. This points to the important role of public agencies (and philanthropists) in rectifying this market failure. The generation of information for water management is an economic activity, and therefore economic principles can be used to help orient research towards socially valuable aims.

The paper illustrates the benefits of providing greater information are illustrated in five areas:

• information for water resource planning and use
• information for water governance
• information for citizens
• information for improved management of water services
• information for business and trade

Finally, reference is made to the new System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW), promoted by UN agencies, which will provide a comprehensive framework for the inclusion of water information into national income accounts.

SADIeau-AfricanWIS: African Water Information System

AWIS (African Water Information System) is an ACP-EU water facility funded project (2007-2010)  that aims to interlink water resource centres in sub-Saharan Africa to enable information exchange via a web-interface. The web site is bilingual, French and English, with most information available only in French at the moment – SADIeau stands for système africain de documentation et d’information sur l’eau.

Partners in the consortium are:

• Réseau Africain des Organismes de Bassin (RAOB)
• Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS)
• Office International de l’Eau (OIEau) (France)
• Centre Régional pour l’Eau Potable et l’Assainissement à faible coût (CREPA) (Burkina Faso)
• Programme Solidarité Eau (PSEau) (France)
• Water, Engineering and Development Center (WEDC) (UK)

Two years into the project, still none of the outputs have been made available on the web site.  But the logo is nice.

Critical review of World Bank role as “knowledge producer” in context of water sector in India

Dharmadhikary, S. (2008). The World Bank as a knowledge producer : how the Bank Uses flawed processes to generate unsound knowledge for promoting disastrous policies. Badwani, India, Manthan. xvi, 80 p. 36 ref.

Download full report here
Download related short paper (2007) here

Publisher’s abstract:

This study examines the World Bank’s role as a knowledge producer in context of the water sector in India.

It looks at the Bank’s knowledge producing machinery at the global level, and in India. It presents several case studies of the use of knowledge by the Bank to promote and justify specific policies. These illustrate how the Bank is using flawed processes to generate unsound knowledge, to push its desired policies, policies that are likely to have disastrous consequences. It draws out an overall critique of the Knowledge Provider role of the Bank.

About Manthan

Manthan Adhyayan Kendra is a centre set up to monitor, analyse and research water and energy related issues, with a special focus on the latest developments resulting from the liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation of the economy. The centre has a team of three researchers and one administrative assistant and is run under the Manthan Research and Social Development Society, a Society registered under the Societies Act in Madhya Pradesh.

Waterlines edition on Knowledge management

In spite of the huge amount of research that is generated, finding ways to make knowledge useful to users in the field is a continuing problem. The April 2008 edition of Waterlines tackles this issue, describing innovative ways to make knowledge on water, sanitation and waste accessible to the people who can use it.

The contents list of the April edition is listed below. Individual articles can be downloaded online (cost US9 + tax ) here

Single copies of the whole issue can be ordered (cost £12.50 or $25) from publishinginfo@practicalaction.org.uk

Waterlines
Contents
VOLUME 27 NUMBER 2 APRIL 2008

Editorial
RICHARD CARTER

Crossfire: ‘Knowledge sharing should focus on learning culture, rather than the generation of knowledge’
JAMES WEBSTER and GEOFF PEARCE

Improving water and sanitation provision globally through information sharing
MARTIN MULENGA

Learning alliances for integrated and sustainable innovations in urban water management
JOEP VERHAGEN, JOHN BUTTERWORTH and MIKE MORRIS

Practical Answers: A platform for knowledge sharing
ROBERT CARTRIDGE, NEIL NOBLE and ZBIGNIEW MIKOLAJUK

The power of knowledge in executing household water treatment programmes globally
C. DOW BAKER, L. ROLLING, R. MARTINEZ, A. BARYAR, G. BULOS and M. LIPMAN

The challenge of servicing on-site sanitation in dense urban areas: Experiences from a pilot project in Dhaka
JONATHAN PARKINSON and MASUDUL QUADER

From our water correspondent
Webwatch

Reviews
Water Lifting Devices: A Handbook
Roofwater Harvesting: A Handbook for Practitioners