INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE CRP5 Stakeholder platforms Addis Ababa, May Claudia Ringler

Why?  Water is shared across space and time by a multitude of users with different invested interests and relative power positions  Giving a voice to the many stakeholders remains a challenging, arduous process  If done right, it can help increase equity of water allocation and impact of basin decisions

Research questions  How can the voices of farmers and the poor be incorporated in basin decisions?  How can basin-level policy insights be communicated?  How can basin-level research achieve policy impact?

Multi-stakeholder platforms

Elements  No one-size-fits-all or panaceas  No clean slate (assess current water rights legislation and administration)  Years of discussion with and across water stakeholders… using a variety of learning processes (including decision-support tools)

Netmap to inform platforms

Basin Netmap Analysis  Relative influence (on water decisions)  Formal networks  Informal networks  Funding networks  …. Etc.

Other, important tools  Scenario development with stakeholders  Development of model interface for stakeholders to manipulate  Online water model and scenario tools (stakeholders choose scenarios online)