World Water Week Stockholm 2013
Dr. Marianne Beisheim and Ms. Hannah Janetschek participated at the 2013 World Water Week “Water Cooperation: Building Partnerships” in Stockholm, Sweden. They held a poster presentation on “Water Cooperation – Building Partnerships in Fragile Areas” (see poster link below). Moreover, they presented the results of the D1-project during a workshop on the “Science and art of water cooperation” (see link for slide below). The workshop was highlighting advances in the science of cooperation – understanding the drivers and social, economic and environmental payoffs of water cooperation and, equally relevant, how the risk of conflict can be minimised. These aspects need to be complemented with the art of cooperation, the skills of mediation and fostering dialogues. How best can the science and art be translated into effective training, education and institutional development? The purpose of the workshop was to bridge the gap between the science and art of cooperation. Among others, the following questions have been debated: What advances have been made in our understanding of drivers of water cooperation and conflict avoidance? How is this knowledge translated into concrete interventions? How can successful examples be up-scaled and applied in other climatic and cultural contexts? Can conflicts be mitigated by outside interventions?
During the many other sessions and in the exhibition area, it was possible to talk to representatives of partnerships (among them WSUP, GWP, AWS, BPD) and their stakeholders, to politicians, administrators and NGO staff from all over the world, and also to exchange with other researchers. The Global Water Partnership, for example, presented and discussed their global strategy for 2014-2019 and their 2020 vision in a round table format. The Alliance for Water Stewardship presented their work in a session on “Public-Private Partnerships: Cooperation for Water Management” and in another one on “Corporate Water Stewardship Partnerships”. Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor held a session on “Partnerships for Financing Sanitation Services in Poor Urban Areas”.