WP #3: EMPOWERS Participatory Planning Cycle

Abstract of WP #3

The EMPOWERS Partnership, is working in Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank/Gaza to develop tools and approaches that will lead to improved water governance, with a focus on practical applications at the local level. The principle long-term goal of the project is to improve development and management of water resources at the intermediate and local level by promoting increased participation and representation of stakeholders in planning and decision-making processes.

To this end, the project is developing a planning cycle for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). This cycle starts with the identification of water-related problems and the development of area specific long-term visions for water resource development that determines the strategies and plans to attain that vision. This strategizing process is supported by the collection and analysis of relevant information on water resources, infrastructure, actors, demand and access, to be used in semi-quantitative Bayesian Networks (computer software) that help to validate and substantiate visions and strategies.

This working paper describes the conceptual background and implementation of the EMPOWERS planning cycle. The cycle is based on generic project management cycles, and draws in particular on the project cycle used in the European Commission’s guidelines on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). An underlying assumption of the EMPOWERS Project is that stakeholder involvement, particularly at the intermediate and local level, throughout the process of problem and solution identification, and selection of possible developmental options, will lead to more equitable, efficient and sustainable water resource management. It is also assumed that such stakeholder involvement, and especially at the community level, will enhance access and rights of the under-privileged groups in society. The heart of the project’s approach is a process of planning and future visioning that takes a long view of the impacts of development and management decisions, based on the extrapolation of key trends.

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