In Tunisia, water scarcity is a significant problem, especially in the central and southern parts of the country. One hundred fifty kilometers south of Tunis in the governorate of Kairouan (Al-Qayrawan), for instance, farmers have difficulty accessing water for the irrigation of the their fields. Even more alarming: some people do not have access to drinking water, as ground water levels continue to drop.
How can a dialogic approach improve the situation?
In the region of Kairouan, public officials and farmer groups do not always have the same understanding of the water problem. Farmers accuse public actors of poor and unequal water governance. On the other hand, public water officials claims that farmers were using water inefficiently and accessing water sources illegally.
In this kind of situation, a dialogue between different stakeholder groups offers opportunities for transforming differences into constructive discussions. The main objective of such kind of dialogue is to bring all actors around one table, build trust and find commonly accepted solutions related to water governance and use.
The idea of a Water Forum
The Water Forum in Kairouan focuses initially on the district of Sbikha and seeks to support and spread this idea of collaboration. The Forum is an engagement process of different stakeholder groups of public administrators, farmers and water users and prepares these actors for working together.
In a first phase, farmers from specificrural communities meet to discuss strategies and best practices of efficient water use, for instance drip irrigation. Also civil society groups are meeting to discuss the problems and challenges related to drinking water.
These meetings take place in different parts of Sbikha, in the Nebhana River basin.. Given the lack of structured farmer associations, , participants vote for a key group of actors (a small container) to represent their community in discussions with the water administration. In the next phase, farmer representatives meet with administration experts and discuss the topics, strategies and demands that were raised by their groups. The objective of these mixed meetings is to produce concrete measures and even guidelines for water management and consumption which are accepted by everybody. The most important topics and agreements will be documented in a Water Charter for the Nebhana River system (including a key dam and irrigation canals and three acquifers), which will be signed by local administration, farmer and civil society leaders and shared with the larger public.
The Nebhana Water Forum is a good example for a stakeholder dialogue in the water sector which can have a greater impact on water use and consumption patterns in the region. Of course, consumption habits are changing very slowly and the Forum will only be successful if it produces positive results for everybody. The CLI works closely together with the German development cooperation (GIZ) and local partners to facilitate the process.
Fotos : Google Maps und Dominic Stucker, CLI
L’Afrique du Nord est une des régions les plus sèches au monde. En Tunisie, la rareté de l’eau se manifeste surtout dans la partie centrale du pays. Par exemple, dans le gouvernorat de Kairouan (Al-Qayrawan), 150 km au sud de Tunis, les agriculteurs manquent d’eau pour l’irrigation de leurs cultures et dans certains secteurs les sources d’eau potable sont même asséchées.
Comment l’approche dialogique peut-elle améliorer la situation ?
Dans la région de Kairouan l’administration publique et les agriculteurs sont actuellement en désaccord et souvent s’accusent mutuellement d’être à l’origine du problème du manque d’eau. Les uns parce qu’ils seraient des mauvais gestionnaires de la ressource, les autres car ils consommeraient l’eau d’une manière inefficace. Dans une telle situation de manque d’entente, un dialogue entre parties prenantes offre la possibilité de transformer les différences en une discussion constructive sur les solutions possibles en vue d’établir une collaboration sur des thèmes concrets.
Weiterlesen →
How can we take responsibility for our ONE World?
To answer this question, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) initiated a dialogue process that is unique of its kind.
Image by Ralf Rühmeier
Weiterlesen →
Designing a more sustainable value chain for cashew nuts in Ghana or reforming the Cambodian Land Ministry – depending on the issues at stake and the actors involved, Stakeholder Dialogues can take very different forms and hold diverse challenges. Still, there are some principles that are crucial for the success of any change process. Here is a list of the 12 main principles that the Collective Leadership Institute has refined over the last years that will help you kick-start your engagement processes. Weiterlesen →
On www.StakeholderDialogues.net we regularly feature success stories of initiatives and projects that have applied a dialogic stakeholder approach. The last story to be featured this year is the story of how community based natural resource management was turned into a succes in Namibia.
After the apartheid in Namibia the black population in Namibia was left with no chance of owning land titles or wildlife. As a result there was no incentive for them to care for the land they lived on – as a consequence over the years wildlife and natural resources soon decreased. To tackle this problem a new conservancy policy was introduced in 1996. Under the policy communities can register for the land they live on to be declared a conservancy – the communities in return have to look after the wildlife and are entitled to benefit from the utilization of wildlife.
© IRDNC
A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Karine Nuulimba of the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) an organization that, together with the WWF, played a major role in initiating this change process in Namibia. The interview with Karine was very inspiring – she passionately shared her insights with me on the success factors of the people-centered community-based natural resource management – an approach that is rooted in the fruitful collaboration between local communities, government bodies and NGOs.
So here is what worked for them: Weiterlesen →
Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, especially African infrastructure development is facing a major challenge in attracting private sector and foreign direct investment. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) hold great potential for sustainable development that can be leveraged further by applying a stakeholder engagement focus.
© merial – Fotolia.com
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has acknowledged this and contracted the Collective Leadership Institute with our expertise in stakeholder engagement to support the Public Private Dialogue Forum that takes place this week in Johannesburg. Until my colleagues are back to report new insights and experiences made in Johannesburg, here are some tips on improving PPPs efficiency through applying a Stakeholder Dialogue approach.
How to make Stakeholder Engagement in PPPs work:
- Create resonance and mobilise positive feedback for investing into a PPP project development among crucial public and private sector players Weiterlesen →
How can a dialogic approach improve the situation? 
The idea of a Water Forum
