Capacity building and innovations through joint learning: Experiences with Communities of Practice and Learning Alliances

摘要

This session is organized around two papers presented at the conference: (1) the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre's (IRC) Resource Centre Development programme's (RCD) experience with a Community of Practice and; (2) the SWITCH'S emerging experience with a global Learning Alliance for Integrated Urban Water Management. Communities of Practice are typically composed by peers, that is professionals working at more or less the same level with more or less the same background or working experiences around a well defined topic (e.g. promoting WASH sector Resource Centres). The IRC RCD programme was carried out over a five year period, involving over 15 partners worldwide in promoting national level improved sector knowledge management. A Learning Alliance, in its truest form, brings together a wide variety ofprofessions and interest groups at various levels (global, national, intermediate and local), willing to experiment and learn together on typically rather complex issues. The EU funded five year SWITCH programme aims for a paradigm shift in Urban Water Management. The programme involves eleven cities worldwide and over 22 research centres covering the various technical and managerial aspects of urban water management. This session proposes to learn and share about experiences with both approaches, and distil the pre-requisites, the advantages and challenges of both. Where relevant recommendations on efficient and effective joint learning mechanisms for WASH sector capacity building and innovations will be formulated.