Nile+Basin+group+review+of+lessons+learnt+and+follow-up

On Thursday 17 November, after the end of the formal part of the third International Forum for Water and Food, the Nile Basin group gathered to review the positive aspects of our group participation in the Forum, of points to improve, and of new initiatives that came out of the Forum.

If there are other emerging 'actions' please add below the table


 * **Good things about our participation in the Forum** || **Issues to improve for the future** ||
 * * Other basins are also struggling – we shared concepts with other basins
 * Networking with young professionals
 * IWMI/ILRI working as one ‘bloc’
 * Cross-basin sharing (e.g. on innovation platforms)
 * Thinking from water management to MUS and linking with food security was good
 * TWG (topic working group) structure
 * More integration across project working groups
 * We went beyond science, talking to policy
 * Lots of individual benefits (networking etc.)
 * Food & facility was good
 * Learned about participatory methods (e.g. companion modeling) and potential training opportunities
 * Recognising common challenges across basins (e.g. struggling with different stakeholders).
 * Topic group pre-discussions and actions worked well for SAM


 * (added by Ewen later) //Stories were good// || * ***Not enough presentation of what was going on across basins***
 * Having more of those basin and cross-basin presentations in the plenary session (i.e. on day 1)
 * Short time given to presenters (Africa session) – difficult to grasp what’s said in 3 min – made it look like narrow presentations.
 * Share fair difficult to follow and lots of competing topics “too much at once”
 * Lunch – share fair combination was not optimal;
 * No field visit organised;
 * Work on the facilitation of some sessions (e.g. bus stop didn't really work for one person);
 * People working on varietal developments should have had special meetings;
 * The programme agenda did not introduce the speakers or explain what the sessions were going to be about (other than through the title);
 * YPs: challenge programme needs to take more seriously gender issues, local communities, integration across projects, disciplines etc.
 * Meet as one Basin group also at the onset of the event;
 * Specific thematic interest groups/individuals couldn’t find each other;
 * Partners had little role other than as participants
 * Inward-looking conference – miss some key actors like NEPAD, CAADP, farmers....
 * balance between science and communication no right; not enough science! ||

**New initiatives and ways forward**

 * Africa Basins Rainwater Management: Synthesis of evidence product of the 3 basins, lead NBDC/Tilahun;
 * Africa Basins Rainwater network (or TWG): to be established. NBDC/Tilahun leading perhaps? To be further discussed with other African Basin leaders;
 * Participation to **Durban CoP event**; Tilahun and others
 * **Common monitoring framework** for innovation across African basins – more talking to do with Volta / Limpopo – related to L2i (Alan Duncan to lead);
 * **National platform meeting** to coordinate issues around rainwater (harvesting) management (19/12);
 * Spatial Analysis and Modelling (SAM) topic working group (TWG) **meeting in July 2012 in the Andes**;
 * **TWG on livelihoods** to be formed – social science. Katherine to lead it with Mekong;
 * (Quick & dirty) **Gender assessment** is in progress/needs following up– Jemimah leading it;
 * **MUS TWG to be revitalized** (Amare to contribute)
 * **YPs at basin level** – to link up with national platform meeting in December;
 * **YP – CPWF cooperation** to shape up and link up; associated with Katherine as capacity development;
 * **Resilience TWG**: position papers and communication to follow (Mulugeta);
 * **Global drivers** - TWG to be shaped up (Tilahun and Matthew)

There might also be some additional work coming for Learning to Innovate but Boru Douthwaite is leading this and will keep us informed.