From Mediation to Mobilisation: Lessons from an unsuccessful experience

Year of publication: 2005

The outcome of this case study on the “Limpieza de los arroyos” project from the Argentinean NGO, Comité de Cuencas, can be used as a challenge in the water and sanitation sector. Specifically when:

• The team intervention is in itself part of the problem and spurred latent conflicts;
• This type of conflictive situation is a common feature of several Argentinean NGOs, which are dependent on the resources and voluntary work of their members.

The basic objectives of the assessment process were to contribute to the transformation of a mainstream practice into a participatory one in order to:

• Empower the organisation by demonstrating that community participation is essential to make the projects succeed.
• Raise community awareness on problems related to water management with the aim to increase their commitment to participate in an NGO project.

The results of this study demonstrate the importance of "learning alliances" to build upon the success of the project by developing social interactions between the main actors involved in water issues at different levels (local and regional).

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