This online workshop is part of the process of co-creative preparation for the ‘interregional learning platform that supports practice-oriented exchange and tailored regional capacity-building’ foreseen in the proposed new global network of UNU Regions.
Regionalist initiatives do not all have the same nature or needs, and contexts vary hugely. However, there is significant common ground when it comes to dealing with the specific kinds of challenges facing transboundary cooperation and regionalist initiatives. The point is not that there are ‘best’ solutions (and certainly not ‘best practices’ in institutional design) but that one can distil from global experiences ‘good’ processes of policy analysis, consultation and consensus-building – and eventually institutionalisation. These processes should promote transparent discussion among decision-makers and stakeholders in reasonably objective terms rooted in local realities. The use of examples from elsewhere in a common analytical framework can help both tailor initiatives to local realities more clearly, and avoid inappropriate imitation. Exchange needs primarily to take place between regions and subregions within the Global South. If suitably contextualized, however, input from elsewhere can also offer a complementary (‘triangular’) perspective that may offer practical benefits, largely in the form of evidential inputs to local processes of deliberation and diffusion.
1. Towards a common framework
The first part of the workshop addresses possible parameters for a common framework that could be used to structure the interregional learning platform, and serve as the basis for the materials to be co-created. A discussion paper by Edward Best proposes, as a starng point, four dimensions:
- Conceptual Frameworks
(matching needs and capacities in appropriate ways: input to local analysis and diffusion)
- Practical Methodologies
(exchange of practical approaches and techniques: emphasis on bottom-up problem-solving)
- Case Studies in implementing comparable global arrangements or conventions
(sharing of learning points in transboundary management of air, water, transport etc.)
- Inspiring Examples of how to promote enabling conditions
(capacities, coordination, knowledge, transnational networks, people-to-people cooperation)
2. Pilot case of comparative practice
The second part addresses regional water policy as a pilot case to promote reflection about the proposed approach. Transboundary water management is a priority across the world, and offers a potential impetus for broader cooperation. It is covered by various regional and international conventions, and is extensively addressed by frameworks such as River Basin Management, Integrated Water Resources Management and the Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystems (WFEE) Nexus.
Yet operationalization is still a challenge in many cases.
Consideration of different legal instruments and implementation mechanisms needs to be grounded in local realities, and related to the creation of favourable enabling conditions. This case presents both general analytical perspectives concerning approaches to functional comparison, and experiences from Southern Africa and Central Asia. Practitioners and researchers will discuss practices that can be shared as success stories and inspiring examples with a view to supporting
processes of effective and sustainable regional cooperation.
The workshop will wrap up with a short summary of conclusions regarding development of the conceptual framework and methodology, as well as the direction of co-creative drafting.
Programme outline
Opening – UNU Regions and interregional capacity-building
Philippe De Lombaerde, Director, UNU-CRIS
1. Towards a common framework for practice-oriented comparison and a co-created learning platform
A first proposal - Edward Best, Associate Research Fellow, UNU-CRIS
Discussants
- Kuat Akizhanov, Deputy Director Two, Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Institute, Ürümqi, China
- Juliana Appiah, Senior Research Fellow, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
- Suriyan Vichitlekarn, Independent Expert (former Executive Director, Mekong Institute), Thailand
2. Pilot case of comparative practice – water policy
‘What’s special about transboundary water policy?’ - Alistair Rieu-Clarke, Professor, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Southern Africa
- Maria Amakali, Acting Deputy Executive Director for Water Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform (MAFWLR), Namibia
- Zimbili Bonisiwe Sibiya, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; Research Coordinator, Southern African Network of Water Centres of Excellence (AUDA-NEPAD SANWATCE)
Central Asia
- Barbara Janusz-Pawletta, Regional Representative, Central Asia, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
- Dinara Ziganshina, Director, Scientific Information Center of Interstate Сommission for Water Coordination in Сentral Asia
General discussion and wrap-up
Philippe De Lombaerde
Edward Best
