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The JACANA project is a multidisciplinary research project on public participation in South African water management. The project was initially intended to lay the foundations for a larger multidisciplinary research project as part of a grant proposal.

South African newspaper :
"Experts from Netherlands scrutinise our water laws"

Fieldwork in South Africa

With the financial help of Rotary De Bilt, Rotary De Bilt Bilthoven and Rotary Bilthoven-Zandzegge, five students from different research backgrounds were given the opportunity to conduct fieldwork on South African water resources management. Together with Marleen van Rijswick and Anoeska Buijze, the students spent a month in the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Area in close cooperation with the Dutch water authority Drents Overijsselse Delta and the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency.

Reciprocal learning process

The project was designed as a reciprocal learning process and stressed on the exchange of ideas and views. By interviewing a diverse group of stakeholders including representatives of local water management entities, various experts from the private and public sector but also end water users, the students and researchers were able to draw important conclusions for their respective re-search questions.

The students’ projects comprise the following topics:

• ‘Risk perception among stakeholders and water management practitioners’ (Benjamin Asante)
• ‘Perception of water among water users’ (Anne-Christine Makkinje)
• ‘Redress of past racism in water law’ (Bram Schmidt)
• ‘Involvement of women in water management’ (Jasmin Schous)
• ‘Incentivizing cor-porate compliance in water governance’ (Rebecca Wörner).

The exchange of perspectives has been very inspiring for the students, the Dutch water authority and the local stakeholders. The research findings can be used by the Catchment Management Agency to improve its strategic and operational water management.

Inclusiveness and participation

The aspects that stand central to the project are inclusiveness and participation of vulnerable groups in the management of the catchment as well as transboundary cooperation.

Against this backdrop, the group also attended a meeting at the United Nations Development Programme office in Mbabane (Swaziland). Here different delegates from Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa came together to prepare the annual River and Environment Management Cooperation (REMCO) conference, which will be held later in 2016. The group also visited the Dutch embassy in Maputo (Mozambique) and the Mozambique Regional Administration of Waters in the South (ARA-SUL).

Download

You can download the report (pdf) with more information.