The Effects of Public Participation on Multi-Level Water Governance, Lessons from Uganda.

Water governance occurs at multiple levels, from the local to the supra-national, which are often highly fragmented. The interconnected nature of water requires interactions among these multiple governance levels. Public participation may foster such interactions. Thus, many water management reforms involved decentralization and public participation worldwide over the last decades. Yet, it is not demonstrated how these reforms may improve water resources sustainability. Their analysis in the literature does not show concretely how interactions among multiple levels materialize and are influenced by participation. As such, the question addressed is how interactions among multiple levels of water governance manifest over time in a participatory intervention. Using a case study in the Rwenzori region in Uganda, this article compares the multi-level interactions before and during a participatory process. The latter has been purposely implemented to bridge gaps between local and provincial levels through a participatory planning process centred on the provincial level. Four types of flows were analyzed: information and knowledge, hydrosocial, financial and human. Our analysis shows that using artefacts like the role-playing game and planning matrix fostered bi-directional information and knowledge flows. Hydrosocial flows did not change in depth but the legitimacy of the two organizations implementing the participatory process was reinforced. Project financial flows were injected through a provincial academic institution, who is not a regular budget recipient. They were therefore superimposed on existing budgeting process. We conclude by providing suggestions for the engineering of participatory processes in order to foster more collaborative and effective multi-level water governance.

The geo-observer network: A proof of concept on participatory sensing of disasters in a remote setting.

Effective disaster risk reduction is often hampered by a general scarcity of reliable data collected on disastrous events, particularly in the Global South. Novel approaches are therefore necessary to alleviate this constraint, particularly with regard to reducing extensive risks. A geo-observer network, consisting of 21 reporters, was established in the Rwenzori region (Uganda) in February 2017 to collect data on eight different disasters using smartphone technology. Within the first 15 months of operation, a total of 319 disaster reports were submitted. A large majority of the reported disasters were reached by the geo-observers within 2 days after their occurrence. The analysis of reporting activity shows a large divergence, with one third of the most active geo-observers accounting for nearly 75% of all reports. By using an existing landslide susceptibility map as a proxy of expected landslide prevalence, this reporting divergence is demonstrated to be at least partially driven by a difference in disaster occurrences. This is confirmed by the results of a survey held among the geo-observers. Survey results also showed that the participants are more driven by non-pecuniary benefits rather than financial compensation. The data collected during the first 15 months of operation indicates that extensive risks in the region are underestimated and demonstrates the added value of participatory sensing to compensate for the current lack of well-functioning official data collection mechanisms. This pilot project is a proof of concept for participatory sensing to collect high quality data even in remote contexts where smartphone technology is not generally adopted. It can serve as a precedent or example for other regions where extensive risks are poorly understood but pose significant threat to the population.