Application of Water Governance

[Ce cours est actuellement disponible uniquement en anglais – la description est donc aussi en anglais. Une traduction en français est en préparation]

This e-Learning course is based on selected chapters from the «Water Impact Guidebook», edited by Nancy Barnes and regional co-authors and the Water TAP Manual published by the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA), GIZ and Water Integrity Network (WIN) Association e.V.

The content has been selected and edited by Rosemary Nakaggwa and Hans Hartung and enlarged with practical resources from Ugandan Water Sector people.

This «Awareness raising course» targets senior and middle managers from all sector players including the Local Governments, the de-concentrated units of the Ministry and from the Center, Civil society organisations and NGOs, the Private Sector and members from Development Agencies in the Water Sector.

The course consists of three modules with three lessons each. As this course has to be absolved in addition to the daily work, the required reading and discussion time is relatively low (around 1 hour per day/6 hours per course week). This course puts more emphasis to the exchange among the participants using a dedicated and closed group on Facebook, a Forum and two interactive webinars with representatives from the WIN network and from African utilities.

A team of experienced e-tutors with a profound professional background in the water-sector is available to guide participants and to ensure the organisation of the course.

La table des matières est disponible ici :

Module 1 «Governance as an Enabling Environment»

  • Lesson 1: Introduction to Governance;
    [The term Governance is explained and you will see that it is much less complicated as you thought. Governance is not about making correct decisions but about the best process for making those decisions! Governance is then narrowed down to water governance and you will realise, why we need good governance in the water sector]
  • Lesson 2: Governance Principles;
    [The principles of Good Governance are introduced and the most important ones for our purpose in the water sector will be dealt with later in the course. Lessons learnt from implementation good governance will be presented]
  • Lesson 3: Roles and Responsibilities.
    [The third lesson will already get more practical and discusses roles and responsibilities. Examples from Uganda’s Leye dam and an MoU between ministries regarding sanitation show how important the clarity of roles and responsibilities is. You will be asked to fill in a table of how you can improve role clarity for yourself and for other people you work with]

Module 2 «Applicability of Good Governance»

  • Lesson 4: Transparency;
    [Transparency is about openness and public access to information. To have every information to everybody is not necessary and does not make sense. It may lead to information overload. It might leave people without understanding of what is actually intended. There is a need to know who needs information for what, when, how, how often. Examples will show you what avenues for sending information exist and what levels and strategies exist]
  • Lesson 5: Accountability;
    [Accountability issues, and not investments, are the key constraint to securing the delivery of improved and efficient services. The different levels of accountability will be looked at as well as the possibilities of how to strengthen accountability. As always in the course, examples (here from India) make the abstract term of accountability more practical]
  • Lesson 6: Participation.
    [Participation is shown in short examples from the water and sanitation context. Tools for participation are explained so that thy can easily be used. Videos on how participation is used in different contexts give a good overview of this important governance principle]

Module 3 «Measurement of Good Governance»

  • Lesson 7: Sustainable Development Goals;
    [A first set of measuring framework is given by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The SDGs have a strong focus on water and sanitation and monitoring instruments are proposed for their goals and targets. It can be shown that the water and sanitation goal of the SDGs (Goal 6) impacts on all other goals of the SDGs]
  • Lesson 8: Governance Indicator Systems;
    [Monitoring governance in the Uganda water and sanitation subsector is the topic of lesson 2. Uganda has made commendable efforts in developing Governance Indicators for the water sector and these are presented here and are certainly a good topic to discuss. The indicators are still new and the organisers of this course are looking forward to get your opinion on the applicability and usefulness of these indicators]
  • Lesson 9: ICT & Water Governance.
    [The last lesson of the course discusses the role of ICT (information and communication technology) in Water Governance. You will see how many examples of ICT exist already to support good governance for water and sanitation. A good example is Majivoice from Kenya, which is explained more in detail. Not only the computer «freaks» will enjoy this lesson and you will be surprised of what all exists already in ICT for the water sector and what you might consider to use as well]