The WaterWiki Is Anarchy the Key to Knowledge Management? Juerg Staudenmann Water Governance Advisor (Bratislava Regional Centre) Brown Bag Lunch UNDP Headquarters New York, 10 November 2005 UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Water Governance in Europe & CIS (RBEC) Water Resources Management (Transboundary & national-level): A critical factor for (economic) development in RBEC Deterioration of Water Resources, Aquatic Ecosystems, WSS infrastructure: A major challenge for most RBEC countries EU-expansion = Large-scale transformation process, incl. adaptation to WFD (EU Water Framework Directive)  Water Governance declared as Priority area for RBEC UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Major Issues & Challenges “Water-Energy Nexus” (CA) & “Water-Security” Nexus (transboundary) Soviet Era Legacies: New borders = division of natural entities (river/sea basins) Replacement of central coordination with national thinking Reluctance to proper Water Pricing Growing pressure (quantity & quality) from growing agriculture, industry, municipal waste (-water) Compliance with Intl. Water Law Transboundary Water Convention Aarhus Convention Johannesburg Directive (IWRM Plans ‘til 2005) EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) Constraints: Lacking/inaccurate data, no systematic monitoring, low capacity / institutional insufficiency, lack of finance UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

UNDP’s background Large project portfolio and various water-related activities over the past 12-15 years (GEF-IW, CO level) and a network of WatGov experts and practitioners New posts in Bratislava & CA to promote Water Governance Sub-Practice & interventions Reinforced communication with partners & donors (incl. EC, OECD, UN-agencies) New knowledge management initiatives  Aim: To better capitalize on what we DO and CAN ! UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

BRC’s Strategic Approach (Water Governance Sub-Practie) 2 of 4 pillars: “Capturing & making available regional knowledge, capacity, expertise, and good practice (for replication)” …develop and test new approaches to KM “Develop regional capacity & networks”  For example: WaterWiki UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Briefly, WaterWiki is.. An interactive website: To access and share information, knowledge, experiences For on-line collaborate and to build communities (CoP) Other uses as the users deem useful… A knowledge map and collaboration tool for Water Governance Practitioners in Europe & CIS A flexible system to be adapted and adopted.. NOT a “normal website”! UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Why WaterWiki ? Need for mapping of projects and activities (on Water Governance) in the region Desire to have knowledge and experience (lessons learned) “At your finger-tips” Aim to better connect practitioners and experts Insight to keep it simple and flexible Awareness that there are already many databases, websites, info portals, etc. etc. UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Why WaterWiki ? (cont.) Therefore: No intention to duplicate, but rather serve as hub/one-stop-shop to find, other info databases and resources No aim to be 100% comprehensive (=too much) or absolutely correct (=too slow) BUT: Provide a useful on-line tool for developing and implementing Water Governance projects / initiatives UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

The WaterWiki Pilot Project Collaboration between Water Governance Sub-Practice and Knowledge Management Team in Bratislava to Combine Substantive/technical motivations and Knowledge Management approaches Access REAL knowledge (not only “success stories”)  targeted interviews Make all this available on-line and real-time  Wiki-Technology !? UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

What is Wiki software? “Wiki Wiki” (Haiti): Quick, flexible, informal “Anyone” can edit anything in real-time No hierarchal structure: all entries at same level but cross-linked (network) and/or ‘tagged’ with categories No central control  publicly owned information (and thus “peer quality control”) Simple use  Anarchy (but not disorder!) (Global example: http://wikipedia.org) UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

(www.undp.sk  Energy & Environment  Water Governance) DEMONSTRATION... http://europeandcis.undp.org/WaterWiki (www.undp.sk  Energy & Environment  Water Governance) UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic