Networking at country and local level
Countries striving to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation coverage, need knowledge networks as much as they need water networks. Rapid replication of successful approaches will only be achieved if news, knowledge and support spread speedily to the field workers who can best make use of them. Increasingly now in developing countries, NGOs and CBOs are using the power of the Internet and E-mail networking to share experiences and combine knowledge resources. Social networking at community level is then supplemented by formal and informal gatherings, street theatre, radio and television, to complete the communication chain. In the best functioning networks, there is also a regular flow of information back up the chain.
WIS6 heard some very different examples of national networking in Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, South America and Uganda (2). In the case of Uganda, the Summit has proved to be a marriage broker.
A marriage made in Delft
Caroline Batanda (UWASNET) and Hadijah Namumbya (WOUGNET) met at WIS and agreed to join forces UWASNET is an umbrella organisation of more than 120 NGOs and CBOs active in water and sanitation in Uganda. Since 2000, it has been building the capacity of its members and other sector agencies, by compiling an information database and sharing knowledge through a newsletter, workshops and a range of networking activities. WOUGNET is a network of women’s organisations, using ICT to share information and address gender issues in the country. After hearing each other’s presentations at WIS6, Carolina Batanda (UWASNET) and Hadijah Namumbya (WOUGNET) will be working together to reinforce each other’s activities and specifically to speed UWASNET’s goal of developing a website to extend its outreach.
Pakistan’s Water Gateway is still in its infancy, but there are ambitious plans to make authenticated information on water agencies, a directory of experts, research results and a calendar of events accessible on the website in English, Urdu and local languages. Plans also include a monthly newsletter, forums on key issues and opportunities for E-learning. Already the embryonic gateway is attracting great interest among sector professionals in Pakistan.
In Bangladesh, as in Uganda, it is NGO collaboration that has created an active network promoting effective water and sanitation approaches among all the stakeholders. NGO Forum for Drinking Water and Sanitation employs a wide range of activities to ensure that key messages reach a wide audience. In particular, at community level, the Forum organises courtyard meetings with village women and community meetings with the men. Village Development Committees are established to provide continuity after the initial awareness raising. A school WATSAN programme raises awareness among children and stimulates them to spread key messages at home.
Recommendations
Discussions on the future of networking led to WIS6 recommendations for starting, consolidating, extending and, interestingly, ending a network. Among the key suggestions for maintaining member interest and optimising the effectiveness of a network were:
- A committed moderator with institutional support and resources that match the level of ambition
- Development of “Communities of Practice” with clear common interests in knowledge sharing
- Regular outputs that demonstrate the power of the network to consolidate information and help in problem-solving
- Advocacy and promotion to highlight network benefits
- Links with other networks to extend influence and widen the knowledge base
- Links to national and regional goals and where appropriate to the Millennium Development Goals
- Periodic monitoring, evaluation and reporting of feedback and results
- Planning from the start of the possible ending of the network or its commecialisation/institutionalisation once the goals have been achieved.
The conclusion of these discussions was that “Formal networks may die, but networking will never die!”
In fact, national and local networks are key elements in the knowledge management package of all countries.
