Réflexion pour une Stratégie Eau de la Coopération belge: Consultation des acteurs au Burundi
Author: Alice Alonso
Abstract
The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aids (DGD) commissioned a consortium of Belgian universities to support the to design of a water strategy for the Belgian development cooperation programs. The policy support project includes a consultation phase of development actors based in Belgium and a selection of its partner countries. The goal of the consultation is to identify the Belgian expertise, needs and challenges in the partner countries to define a coherent and efficient strategy. One of the selected countries is Burundi, one of Belgium's main partner countries in terms of ODA funding, and a country in which Belgium constitutes one of the main donors, with a significant contribution in the water sector. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, characterized by an acute fragility resulting in part from successive political crises and civil wars. The main income is made up of subsistence farming, with 87% of the population living in rural areas. The rate of access to water and sanitation is less than 60%, and a recent UNICEF study has highlighted underfunding in the water sector.
The water sector is under the supervision of several ministries, which implies problems of coordination and support, despite the existence of a central coordination body. These problems are exacerbated by the limited application of existing regulations and laws. Despite the existence of a series of interesting and encouraging initiatives, the structural and institutional gaps plaguing the country are enormous, and it seems unlikely that SDG6 will be achieved there by 2030.
From a Belgian stand-point, thirty Belgian organizations from the public, private, nongovernmental and academic sectors with links to the water sector reported having been active in Burundi between 2010 and 2020. The main actors of Belgian ODA in the water sector with ongoing projects are Enabel, Join For Water - Protos, the Flemish and Walloon Red Crosses, Louvain Coopération and the academic sector. In addition, the private company SHER was particularly present. Apart from a few recent partnership initiatives, the projects have been carried out individually by the organizations. Among international organizations, GIZ (BMZ, Germany) is a major actors in the water sector, as well as the Red Cross, UNICEF and IFAD. Switzerland has had an important water program until 2016.
Different priority axes, transversal objectives and principles of implementation for a strategy for Belgian cooperation were identified on a consultation basis (workshop, field visits, bilateral interviews) with more than 45 actors from more than 20 organizations during a field mission in February 2020.
Priority axes
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This document should be cited as follows: "Alonso, A., 2020. 'Réflexion pour une Stratégie Eau de la Coopération belge: Consultation des acteurs au Burundi. Rapport dans le cadre du projet ARES-CCD-PSR-2019-2020 Water Nexus'. Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. 36 pp."
Abstract
The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aids (DGD) commissioned a consortium of Belgian universities to support the to design of a water strategy for the Belgian development cooperation programs. The policy support project includes a consultation phase of development actors based in Belgium and a selection of its partner countries. The goal of the consultation is to identify the Belgian expertise, needs and challenges in the partner countries to define a coherent and efficient strategy. One of the selected countries is Burundi, one of Belgium's main partner countries in terms of ODA funding, and a country in which Belgium constitutes one of the main donors, with a significant contribution in the water sector. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, characterized by an acute fragility resulting in part from successive political crises and civil wars. The main income is made up of subsistence farming, with 87% of the population living in rural areas. The rate of access to water and sanitation is less than 60%, and a recent UNICEF study has highlighted underfunding in the water sector.
The water sector is under the supervision of several ministries, which implies problems of coordination and support, despite the existence of a central coordination body. These problems are exacerbated by the limited application of existing regulations and laws. Despite the existence of a series of interesting and encouraging initiatives, the structural and institutional gaps plaguing the country are enormous, and it seems unlikely that SDG6 will be achieved there by 2030.
From a Belgian stand-point, thirty Belgian organizations from the public, private, nongovernmental and academic sectors with links to the water sector reported having been active in Burundi between 2010 and 2020. The main actors of Belgian ODA in the water sector with ongoing projects are Enabel, Join For Water - Protos, the Flemish and Walloon Red Crosses, Louvain Coopération and the academic sector. In addition, the private company SHER was particularly present. Apart from a few recent partnership initiatives, the projects have been carried out individually by the organizations. Among international organizations, GIZ (BMZ, Germany) is a major actors in the water sector, as well as the Red Cross, UNICEF and IFAD. Switzerland has had an important water program until 2016.
Different priority axes, transversal objectives and principles of implementation for a strategy for Belgian cooperation were identified on a consultation basis (workshop, field visits, bilateral interviews) with more than 45 actors from more than 20 organizations during a field mission in February 2020.
Priority axes
- Improve access to drinking water, hygiene and sanitation in rural areas and in secondary cities (Contribution to SDG 6.1 and SDG 6.2);
- Improve wastewater treatment in rural areas and in secondary cities (Contribution to SDG6.3);
- Support the development of irrigated agriculture and the efficiency of water use for agriculture (Contribution to SDG 6.4);
- Enhance the economic potential and clean energy of water via the sustainable development of hydroelectricity (Contribution to SDG 6.4).
To download the report, click here
This document should be cited as follows: "Alonso, A., 2020. 'Réflexion pour une Stratégie Eau de la Coopération belge: Consultation des acteurs au Burundi. Rapport dans le cadre du projet ARES-CCD-PSR-2019-2020 Water Nexus'. Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. 36 pp."
Water research in support of the Sustainable Development Goal 6: A case study in Belgium
Published in the Journal of Cleaner Production Volume 277, 124082
Authors: Long Ho, Alice Alonso, Marie Anne Eurie Forio, Marnik Vanclooster and Peter L.M.Goethals
Abstract
Reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation is fundamentally important and conditional to the achievement of all the other SDGs. Nonetheless, achieving this goal by 2030 is challenging, especially in the Global South. Science lies at the root of sustainable development and is a key to new solutions for addressing SDG 6. However, SDG 6-related scientific outputs are often unknown, forming disconnections between academic world and practitioners implementing solutions. This study proposed a bibliometric and text mining method to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the contribution of water research to the achievement of SDG 6. The method was applied for water research produced by Belgian-affiliated authors with a focus on the Global South collaboration. Despite accounting for less than one percent of the total global publications, Belgian water research has had a relatively high publication rate compared to its neighboring countries. We observed longstanding collaborations between Belgian and scientists from worldwide countries, and an increasing collaboration rate with countries from the Global South. The biggest share of publications focused on topics related to the targets 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, and 6.6, with the main hotspots for Belgian water research being water treatment, water stress, water pollution, climate change, and water modeling. The findings of the bibliometric search have been integrated into an online, user-friendly dashboard to facilitate the identification of research body and experts for practitioners and policy makers. The presented methodology is sufficiently generic and can be used to optimize other science programs in relation to the 2030 Agenda in other countries and regions. In this case study, the findings support shaping the Belgian cooperation and development policy in the water sector, and creating appropriate synergies between Belgian water researchers and their counterparts in the Global South.
Reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation is fundamentally important and conditional to the achievement of all the other SDGs. Nonetheless, achieving this goal by 2030 is challenging, especially in the Global South. Science lies at the root of sustainable development and is a key to new solutions for addressing SDG 6. However, SDG 6-related scientific outputs are often unknown, forming disconnections between academic world and practitioners implementing solutions. This study proposed a bibliometric and text mining method to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the contribution of water research to the achievement of SDG 6. The method was applied for water research produced by Belgian-affiliated authors with a focus on the Global South collaboration. Despite accounting for less than one percent of the total global publications, Belgian water research has had a relatively high publication rate compared to its neighboring countries. We observed longstanding collaborations between Belgian and scientists from worldwide countries, and an increasing collaboration rate with countries from the Global South. The biggest share of publications focused on topics related to the targets 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, and 6.6, with the main hotspots for Belgian water research being water treatment, water stress, water pollution, climate change, and water modeling. The findings of the bibliometric search have been integrated into an online, user-friendly dashboard to facilitate the identification of research body and experts for practitioners and policy makers. The presented methodology is sufficiently generic and can be used to optimize other science programs in relation to the 2030 Agenda in other countries and regions. In this case study, the findings support shaping the Belgian cooperation and development policy in the water sector, and creating appropriate synergies between Belgian water researchers and their counterparts in the Global South.
Send an email to Long Ho (long.tuanho@ugent.be) for further information on this article.
To cite this article: Ho L, Alonso A, Forio MAE, Vanclooster M, Goethals PLM. Water research in support of the Sustainable Development Goal 6: A case study in Belgium. Journal of Cleaner Production 2020; 277: 124082.
To cite this article: Ho L, Alonso A, Forio MAE, Vanclooster M, Goethals PLM. Water research in support of the Sustainable Development Goal 6: A case study in Belgium. Journal of Cleaner Production 2020; 277: 124082.
Mapping the Belgian Organisations in the Water Sector with International Development Cooperation Activities
Water Nexus Policy Support Project
Author: Alice Alonso
Given the complexity of the water-related challenges globally, ensuring efficiency and enhanced, sustainable impacts of efforts requires a coherent and coordinated actions between the actors and programs. Knowing the Belgian actors and their expertise is a necessary step for Belgium to define and implement a water coherent strategy and programs that align with the Belgian expertise. We conducted a survey in June 2019 to inventory the Belgian actors, the outputs of which are presented in this document in form of graphs and tables. The survey revealed a wealth of organisations and expertise, with 45 entries from private sector companies, 31 from research groups or institutions, 22 from government-recognized NGOs, 15 from public agencies or utilities, 10 from platforms or clusters, and 3 from NPO or 4th pillar organisations. Amongst these organisations, the ones who were allocated ODA funding as Project-type interventions or Core support to NGOs, other private bodies, PPPs and research institutions1 are Enabel, Join For Water-Protos, and to a lesser extent the APEFE, Solidagro, ARES, Rode Kruis Vlaanderen, VLIR-UOS, UNICEF Belgium, Iles de Paix, WWF, and NGO Congo-Village. We refer to these organisations as “DGD implementation partners”. The surveyed organisations cover a wide range of expertise. This reveals that the top five fields of expertise are on the water supply, waste water treatment, water and sustainable cities, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and water and agriculture, although all the other fields of expertise are defining at least 20 organisations. This field classification changes to Water supply, disaster risk management, water and sustainable cities, equipment supplies, and hydropower when only looking at the DGD partners. Sectoral specificities emerge when looking at the keywords reported by the organisations . The most prevalent keywords per sectors are the following:
The surveys actors have had activities all over the world, with the countries partner of Belgium development cooperation (DGD) among those having the highest number of active Belgian organisations. The global presence of DGD’s implementation partner mirrors the one from all the organisations. The inventory is hosted in a searchable online dashboard in the Water Nexus website. We also recommend to consult a second dashboard compiling the references to scientific peer-reviewed work conducted by Belgian academics in topics related to the sustainable development goal 6 on water, as well as the related bibliometric analysis paper. In spite of our effort to reach as many organisation as possible, the actor inventory is certainly not exhaustive.
To download the report, click here
Author: Alice Alonso
Given the complexity of the water-related challenges globally, ensuring efficiency and enhanced, sustainable impacts of efforts requires a coherent and coordinated actions between the actors and programs. Knowing the Belgian actors and their expertise is a necessary step for Belgium to define and implement a water coherent strategy and programs that align with the Belgian expertise. We conducted a survey in June 2019 to inventory the Belgian actors, the outputs of which are presented in this document in form of graphs and tables. The survey revealed a wealth of organisations and expertise, with 45 entries from private sector companies, 31 from research groups or institutions, 22 from government-recognized NGOs, 15 from public agencies or utilities, 10 from platforms or clusters, and 3 from NPO or 4th pillar organisations. Amongst these organisations, the ones who were allocated ODA funding as Project-type interventions or Core support to NGOs, other private bodies, PPPs and research institutions1 are Enabel, Join For Water-Protos, and to a lesser extent the APEFE, Solidagro, ARES, Rode Kruis Vlaanderen, VLIR-UOS, UNICEF Belgium, Iles de Paix, WWF, and NGO Congo-Village. We refer to these organisations as “DGD implementation partners”. The surveyed organisations cover a wide range of expertise. This reveals that the top five fields of expertise are on the water supply, waste water treatment, water and sustainable cities, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and water and agriculture, although all the other fields of expertise are defining at least 20 organisations. This field classification changes to Water supply, disaster risk management, water and sustainable cities, equipment supplies, and hydropower when only looking at the DGD partners. Sectoral specificities emerge when looking at the keywords reported by the organisations . The most prevalent keywords per sectors are the following:
- Research: Integrated water management, ecology and biodiversity, groundwater, modelling, climate change, water treatment, modelling, monitoring, technology.
- Private sector: wastewater treatment, hydroelectricity, integrated water management, modelling, chemicals - NGOs/ NPOs/4th pillar: health, agriculture and irrigation, sustainable development, empowerment, children, water security
- Public: drinking water, management, education, forecasting, and several keywords related to collaboration and networking
- Platforms and cluster: advice, networking, capacity building, policy, lobbying and other related keywords.
The surveys actors have had activities all over the world, with the countries partner of Belgium development cooperation (DGD) among those having the highest number of active Belgian organisations. The global presence of DGD’s implementation partner mirrors the one from all the organisations. The inventory is hosted in a searchable online dashboard in the Water Nexus website. We also recommend to consult a second dashboard compiling the references to scientific peer-reviewed work conducted by Belgian academics in topics related to the sustainable development goal 6 on water, as well as the related bibliometric analysis paper. In spite of our effort to reach as many organisation as possible, the actor inventory is certainly not exhaustive.
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Challenges, barriers and opportunities to reach SDG6 in the Partner Countries of Belgian development cooperation
Overview based on the survey of the actors
Authors: Alice Alonso and Jan Cools
A survey with Belgian actors in the water sector in international development was conducted in June and July 2019 with the aim to document the current challenges in the Belgian partner countries, emphasize needs and define how and where the Belgian actions can best contribute to reaching water security and sustainability, and SDG6. Twenty-four questionnaires have been completed by 16 organisations (10 NGOs, 8 public sector, 3 private sector, 3 research institutions) for 10 countries: DR Congo, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Niger, and Tanzania. This document synthetises the responses received. Although the responses are from a group that we can deem representative of the main Belgian actors on the water sector internationally, it is important to stress that the responses only reflect the personal opinion of the respondents. They are also generalised to the ensemble of Belgian partner countries although the responses in the first questionnaire were provided on a country-basis.
To download the report, click here
Authors: Alice Alonso and Jan Cools
A survey with Belgian actors in the water sector in international development was conducted in June and July 2019 with the aim to document the current challenges in the Belgian partner countries, emphasize needs and define how and where the Belgian actions can best contribute to reaching water security and sustainability, and SDG6. Twenty-four questionnaires have been completed by 16 organisations (10 NGOs, 8 public sector, 3 private sector, 3 research institutions) for 10 countries: DR Congo, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Niger, and Tanzania. This document synthetises the responses received. Although the responses are from a group that we can deem representative of the main Belgian actors on the water sector internationally, it is important to stress that the responses only reflect the personal opinion of the respondents. They are also generalised to the ensemble of Belgian partner countries although the responses in the first questionnaire were provided on a country-basis.
To download the report, click here