Transdisciplinary, Multi-Stakeholder Approach for Water Security in Northern Province, Sri Lanka: Through Participatory Action Research project at the University of Jaffna
Background:
Transdisciplinary, Multi-Stakeholder Approach for Water Security in Northern Province, Sri Lanka: Through Participatory Action Research project undertaken under AHEAD operation of the World Bank fund, with many unique qualities, has broken new ground in the area of water governance and water security for Northern Province where I have been worked as a Research Assistant since 2021 March.
Description of the project:
Sri Lanka, as well as the Northern Province, are at crossroads given the need to develop and implement a long-term plan for water security. The plan requires input and support from all stakeholders. Grass root understanding combined with sound data, appropriate institutional policies, and implementation measures is needed to manage water in a sustainable manner. Participatory Action Research has been applied in many parts of the world to deal with real contextual issues of natural resource governance, including water. This mixed-method approach applied in a holistic way has allowed people-centered approaches to be incorporated in linking theory, research, policy, and practice at various levels and governance scales
In view of the complex nature of the water situation in the Northern province and the critical need for more responsible action on the part of all actors, business as usual is not an option for ensuring water security. This project takes as its point of departure the failure of existing institutional and social structures and seeks to 1) reconstruct a more informed citizenry through filling knowledge gaps, 2) create deliberative space for participatory planning and decision-making for co-creation of water security options, and 3) encourage citizen awareness at all levels through citizen-driven measurements, quantification, and experimentation. Such a novel approach has yet to be tested in any other provinces in Sri Lanka, and collective action and rebuilding social capital accomplished in the Northern Province through the revitalization of the water sector in this project is likely to bring benefits in many other sectors and wider society indeed.
Until the commencement of this project in 2020, most academic research on water security is relatively poorly integrated with the initiatives of policymakers and practitioners. Research publications and reports are of varying levels of quality according to international standards of scientific methodology and analytical procedures. Further, not all reports are easily accessible to the general community nor are they always cross-validated by independent experts. It is evident that the water issues existing in NP are complex and multi-faceted; the solutions require input from the beneficiaries and must weigh the balance between technological, cultural, socio-economic, and political considerations. Though many aspects of the water crisis are not unique to the NP or other Provinces of Sri Lanka, solutions are ultimately unique to the local environment, its needs, and culture. Solutions for the water crisis require holistic, coordinated, multi-sectoral, and interdisciplinary thinking and action involving all stakeholders. Longer-term, broader, more holistic approaches to evaluate water security supported by evidence-based participatory planning (i.e., bottom-up connected to top-down), and adaptive management with periodic review are critical to a collective approach.
Project Outcomes I worked for:
This project has addressed the need for a multi-sectoral trans-disciplinary forum as a platform for dialogue and engagement across all actors and stakeholders. From the output from many stakeholder participants in the workshops, it was envisaged that a democratic driving force for change that includes all levels, top-down and bottom-up. The Forum has served as the centre piece of the research work and the creation of an accessible, trustworthy, and comprehensive portal for communications and repository of information.
There is once again quite a bit of noise in the wider community about the safety and security of water in the NP. This project has brought all relevant actors together through the three years of work, itself an accomplishment, to have an already functional platform that can go beyond the ‘noise’ and be the solid voice of the community and that of sound science. To date, the Northern Water Forum has been formed and established with multi-sectoral members from different institutions and grassroots community members. National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB), Provincial Department of Irrigation, Central Irrigation, Water Resources Board, Urban Development Authority, Departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Services, Local Authorities, and other institutions are partnering in the established Northern Water Forum towards sustaining water security in the Northern Province.
A trustworthy, public-accessible repository of water-related facts is not available until developed in this project. The developed a web-based Digital repository (DR) (http://drw.jfn.ac.lk/) on Water serves the opportunity for all stakeholders (experts and the lay public) to have access to a common and shared source of information from diverse sources, including publications, reports and news articles related to water. This facilitates information dissemination, two-way dialogue and increase the visibility of research findings and other publications done by individual researchers, universities, institutions and authorities.
An interactive web portal has been developed as a part of this project to disseminate the project activities to the public and as a communication medium (https://www.nwf.jfn.ac.lk/). It is being served as a comprehensive communication hub for the users to share views and opinions related to water issues pertaining to the region. This provides an interactive platform for informed stakeholders to work through collaboration and coordination, which is a prime requirement for good management and governance practices.
Research articles have been produced with the input of research arenas arising from this project and published and presented in national and international conferences and peer-reviewed journals.
There is a community expectation that the space and the role are sustained, with the University as the ‘honest broker’ in the complex field of water as it is in the Province. This project served as space for the water professionals, water departments, and authorities to disseminate their upcoming projects, and findings and get public opinions through water forums and symposiums. Young Water Professionals (YWPs) Northern chapter and Northern water forum are two outcomes of this project is actively functional in addressing water-related issues in the Northern province and interacting with communities on actions. Rural ponds rejuvenations at Thellipalai, wastewater treatment research project at Vavuniya College of Education, tube wells regulation studies in NP, and soil sealing policy brief development are a few activities currently undertaken by YWPs along with Northern Water Forum members.
The research methodology we adopted to get this far has captured the most up-to-date concepts in discussion globally in the water arena. Which is shown below as a diagram.
International universities' collaborative projects are being developed with the support of the work done in this study. Recently Manchester University supported ‘Water and Health’ pilot project has been started in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna with the research data derive from the research I’m undertaking at Karainagar island.