Our Approach

EMPOWERS will adopt a number of approaches to improve communities’ long-term access to water. These approaches will:

• Increase the influence of different stakeholders on the planning and decision-making process for the use and management of scarce water resources. EMPOWERS will involve all relevant segments of civil society in each country through establishing and providing support to networks of different stakeholders (Stakeholder Platforms) from the community to the national policy level. This will ensure that, at national and governorate levels, planning and decision-making for IWRM will be better informed by local realities. This approach intends also to policy frameworks that support decision-making at lower levels. End-users will, therefore, have a better chance of taking ownership of, and accountability for, the management of local water resources.
• Enhance vertical and horizontal linkages and information flows. EMPOWERS believes that such linkages and flows can only be achieved when people and their organizations work together at different levels of influence and decision making. A particular focus will be given to the development of practical information management and planning tools and guidelines for the water sector.
• Demonstrate its approach through pilot projects. EMPOWERS will ground its work through the design, development, and implementation of pilot projects in each of the nine selected communities. Through these pilots, EMPOWERS will develop and test the tools and approaches in a hands-on learning process with the different communities. The first round of pilots will build capacity, ownership and commitment, and bring the viewpoints of all those involved towards a shared vision and a common understanding of IWRM and Stakeholder Dialogue for Concerted Action (SDCA) - the two main domains of action in this programme.
• Document the learning process. In the course of the programme, EMPOWERS will give close and structured attention to written and visual documentation of the manner in which it has approached the issues at stake in the three countries. Documents and supportive videos will describe how EMPOWERS has functioned, including lessons learned, bottlenecks, pitfalls, and how these have been resolved. This process will be documented in order to facilitate building on the knowledge accumulated throughout the learning process, and to encourage the assimilation of the EMPOWERS approach into future projects.
• Share valuable information and knowledge at a regional level. In addition to approaches at the country level, EMPOWERS will assume a role in regional networks, focusing on the wise use and management of local water resources in the Mediterranean Region. To achieve this, EMPOWERS will:

1. develop educational and training material to increase awareness at a local level of the critical issues of the water availability and its efficient usage;
2. develop and maintain a website and database on IWRM and SDCA approaches focusing on countries in the Mediterranean Region and the Middle East;
3. build bridges with other organizations and donors in order to share knowledge and information and build capacities for the sustainable management of water resources (through regional and international forums within and outside the MEDA framework);
4. contribute to policy dialogue at national, regional and international levels through water partnerships and other networking programmes.