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New handbook: Learning together to manage together: Improving participation in water management (06/03/06)

Good morning everyone:

Learning together to manage together: Improving participation in water management has been produced following an extensive participatory working process involving a multidisciplinary team of scientists, government officials, water managers, and stakeholders of different sectors. It’s an output from a project funded by the European Commission on harmonising collaborative planning, and the methodology featured in the book is based on the concept of “social learning” advocating collaboration between the different stakeholders from the earliest moment possible. The target groups of the handbook includes all actors involved in the practical implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive such as decision-makers, administrators, NGOs, water users etc. Although focussed on participation in water management for European Union countries, this handbook is of relevance to all people involved in participatory processes.

The handbook explains why it makes sense to be more ambitious about participatory processes rather than simply informing or consulting stakeholders and the public, and it provides the methodology for creating the right framework for a successful participatory process. It offers practical guidance for the development of participation processes that meet the actual needs of stakeholders and aims to serve as a reference book for the selection of adequate participatory methods. In the context of the handbook, public participation is understood as a continuously ongoing process.

To help convince you really is worth a look, here's the contents list (which does not tell you anything about the excellent illustrative cartoons which keep you smiling throughout!):

Table of contents:

Chapter 1: How to start
1.1 Public participation and social learning
1.2 General principles
1.3 Problem Identification
1.4 Stakeholder and context analysis
1.5 Participation strategy
1.6 Choosing methods and tools
1.7 Making a process design
1.8 Reflection phase on process so far

Chapter 2: How to manage
2.1 Ground rules
2.2 How to organise a meeting
2.3 Tips for improving the overall process
2.4 Methods and tools for fostering social learning
2.5 Keeping the momentum
2.6 Information management
2.7 Outreach

Chapter 3: How to improve
3.1 Monitoring and evaluation
3.2 Evaluation Checklist

You can download this 99-page document here: http://www.harmonicop.info/handbook.php (1.6MB), and hard copy is available from:

University of Osnabrück
Institute of Environmental Systems Research
Albrechtstrasse 28
49076 Osnabrueck
Germany

In addition to the English, Spanish and German electronic version of the handbook currently available, translations in Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, and French are planned.

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

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Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 999 0176; Fax: +41 22 999 0169
E-mail: hails@ramsar.org
Web Site: http://ramsar.org
CEPA mini-Web site: http://ramsar.org/outreach_index.htm

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