WP #1: EMPOWERS Vision and Approaches

Abstract WP # 1

EMPOWERS is a four year regional program for local water management in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine.  It is the ambition of the EMPOWERS Partnership to improve long-term access and rights to water by underprivileged populations, through a process of participatory water governance.  Such water governance will be enhanced by Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) that in our view includes planning and development activities.  While existing approaches to IWRM tend to privilege attention to large geographic units (river basins, major watersheds) and higher levels of policy and planning (national, governorate), EMPOWERS will shift such attention to the meso and local level (districts, local communities and end-users).  Nevertheless, while focusing on districts and local communities, EMPOWERS will ensure the relevance of local IWRM activities to national policy formulation.  

One of the core assumptions of the EMPOWERS programme (CARE UK/EC, 2002) is that stakeholder involvement - particularly at the intermediate and local levels - leads to improved use and management of water resources.  Improved management implies taking better account of users needs and engenders collective responsibility for interventions in the water sector.  To this end, the project is developing a participatory planning cycle for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).  This cycle builds on the identification of water-related problems and the development of area specific long-term visions and strategies for water resource development.  This strategizing process is supported by the collection and analysis of relevant information on water resources, infrastructure, actors, demand and access and the validation of this information in semi-quantitative Bayesian Networks (computer software).  The aim of this planning cycle is to support stakeholders at local and intermediate levels in making the technical and political decisions to develop and manage their water resources.  It is this larger process of participatory analysis, visioning, scenario building and strategic planning that is the real heart of EMPOWERS.  The result will be the development of practical tools and gaining experience in planning for integrated water resource management (IWRM) at the local level.  The overall EMPOWERS planning cycles and stakeholder approach are described in more detail in Working Papers 3 and 6 (see reference section).

This working paper provides an overview of the conceptual background and main approaches of the EMPOWERS Partnership Programme.  It also provides a vision about how the approaches and methodologies developed, contextualized and tested during the course of the project could find continuation in the countries it is working in.  It is a vision that is assumed to contribute to a situation in which IWRM is feasible and desirable in terms of equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability.

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