O’Neil, Maureen “Collaborative Approaches to Water Supply in Africa”-IDRC President Maureen O'Neil's opening address at the international conference "Collaborer en Afrique: les nouvelles approches dans le secteur de l’eau" 11 Apr. 2008. 24 May 2007 <

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-112581-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

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     The IDRC is the International Development Research Center; a Canadian Crown Corporation which carries out projects focused on developing low cost solutions to problems of the developing world by conducting research within the localities of where the problems occur so that the communities in those regions can learn how to tackle it themselves. This speech was given by the President of this organization at an International Conference on Collaborative Approaches to Water Supply in Africa.

While the speech addresses the organization and what work it does well; it barely talks about specific problems and approaches to Water Supply in Africa. He highlights the work done in the Middle East such as a waste water cycle in Jordan and compares it to how similar initiatives maybe undertaken in Africa. Africa is another continent and culture; the problems it faces differ and so such an analogy is not justified. But he also does highlight research being carried out in Senegal and Nairobi which throw some light in to the water issues in those areas. His speech highlighted IDRC’s WADIMENA project; The Water Demand Initiative for the Middle East and North Africa (WaDImena) is a five-year project to promote the management of water demand in the region.

“Community-Based Integrated Water Management in Farafara Oasis, Egypt” Environment and Natural Resource Management. 17 Jul. 2006. 14 Apr. 2008 <http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-100570-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html>

     This article is a progress report and description of one of WaDIMena’s project initiatives in Egypt for research on Ground Water resource management in the village of Abu Minquar in Egypt. It sheds light on a new approach of research and resource management in which the  NGO goes in to the local community and engages with them through everyday activities such as football games, crop harvesting, wedding celebrations and research activities. Through this they get a better understanding of the community in which they are operating and slowly understand how the villagers source their ground water and distribute it. While integrating in to the culture the NGO will conduct its research side by side with those involved in the ground water management in the community.

As a result of this any new plan that needs to be implemented will be done over time by the local villagers themselves therefore fostering the overall objective of this applied research which is to promote WDM by facilitating the development of a framework for a participatory integrated water management plan, developed from principles supporting sustainable use of groundwater by the New Basaisa community in Farafara Oasis. This same methodology can be applied by various enterprises; private or public in order to ensure implementation and allow research from ground up vs. often times research being conducted in labs in developed countries and then being brought down by large corporations or Non Profit organizations in to developing communities.