SWITCH programme
SWITCH was a 5 year research programme (2006-2011) funded by the European Union focused on sustainable Urban Water Management. IRC's contribution focused on supporting stakeholder engagement processes in SWITCH cities and research on social inclusion issues.
Selected SWITCH publications
Here you can find a selection of SWITCH publications that have involved IRC and our partners. These focus on issues of stakeholder engagement, social inclusion, assessment of impacts and stories of change from SWITCH cities. They include a series of papers critically documenting the SWITCH process in each city.
Workshop on ‘Process documentation for learning alliances and action research’
A workshop was held in the city of Lodz in central Poland, 1 - 5 July 2007, supported by the SWITCH research project, IRC and EMPOWERS. The purpose of the training was to look into process documentation for learning alliances and action research. The activities being undertaken in the city of Lodz in central Poland provided the focus for the practical aspects of the training. Several outputs of the workshop can be viewed online.
Water in Cities conference in Spain
Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change, 13 - 17 December 2010, Spain.
"Making water accessible for all is a social business,” says WaterAid Official
The failure of public utilities service providers in most African countries to recognise their work as a social business has left a big market for private vendors to take advantage of. According to Timeyin Uwejamomere of WaterAid, UK, ‘the provision of water is a business that must show revenue over cost, and the profit margin can be used for expansion works, maintenance of existing facilities and motivation of staff such as paying the school fees of brilliant wards of staff’.
Manila - a mega challenge for SWITCH?
Stakeholders. Engagement. Demonstration. I’ve never heard the three words mentioned so often as in the past four days in Zaragoza in Spain. They sounded the same as in Manila in the Philippines where I come from but the meanings are quite different.
Comments on messages World Water Day 2011
Conference participants in Zaragoza, were asked to give inputs to WWD 2011 messages by writing the comments on posters that were displayed in the corridors of the venue.
SWITCH lessons relevant and useful for Senegal
“The different ongoing experiences in various countries under the umbrella of SWITCH programmes are relevant and I followed the presentations with a high interest”, Cheikh Tidiane Fall, Senegal wrote in the third Conference Daily of the ''Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change'' conference in Zaragoza, Spain, 13-17 December 2010.
“I hope for uptake of the lessons from five years SWITCH research by other cities”
See and hear IRC’s John Butterworth on his hopes about the uptake by other cities in the coming years of the lessons from the SWITCH research.
International conference 'Sustainable Water Management in Cities, Zaragoza, Spain
''Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change'' is the key theme of an international conference which took place in Zaragoza, Spain from 13 to 17 December 2010.
Learning Alliances in the SWITCH project
11 Aug 09
The SWITCH project is piloting an innovative approach to scientific research with stakeholders in urban water management through a type of multi-stakeholder process that we call a Learning Alliance. On the SWITCH website you can find briefing notes, resources, capacity building events, and experiences on implementing Learning Alliances in various cities.
