Beyond Water: optimizing dispute resolution capabilities in the water-sector through professional education and casuistry

Water conflict occur when people and institutions disagree on the water needed, water required or water being obligated at a location for a purpose at a certain time and quality. Such conflicts are increasing because water is more and more an economic commodity; its ownership and distribution is changing; stakeholders have different values; eco-system services change; and stakeholders’ cultures(s) and interests vary.

Water related disputes will lead more and more to confrontations and complex negotiations rather the violent conflict, but in many cases training procedures and practices are not sufficiently anchored with comprehensive capacity building strategies.

How can we optimize learning through professional or tertiary education? What does human or psychological behavior provide us with to optimize these results? What is the influence of new teaching techniques, in the field of conflict management, and sustainable development when applying professional education?

The objective of this project is focused on the need and effect of applying these teaching techniques in the water-sector. As a critical resource for life, water is a main concern for many international organizations' and donors core mission for poverty reduction. These organizations bring comprehensive skills and operational experience into the sector aiming to enhance capacity and skills of institutions and professionals working on water issues in shared river basins, leading changes in reforms to manage water more effectively and better cope with increasing climate risks.

Today, especially in the context of new demands for integrated water resources management, experts work in teams involving multiple disciplines and increasingly work in multi-agency teams, involving a variety of international NGOs, public, and private organisations. Disputes usually lead to complex negotiations. This requires professional training to enhance negotiation skills and dispute resolution capabilities in order to prevent conflict in shared river basins. Constructive Alignment is a methodology where stakeholders take responsibility for their own learning through a supportive environment for the mental activity to learn. This is done by emphasizing what 'students' must be able to do, as result of modifying their cognitive structures and by activities to achieve learning outcomes, hence optimizing dispute resolution capabilities in the water-sector.

Constructive Alignment is one of the most influential ideas in education of the past decade. The basic premise of the system is that the curriculum is designed in what that the learning activities and assessment tasks are aligned with the intended outcomes.

Alignment is about getting ‘students’ to take responsibility for their own learning. Teachers create an encouraging environment, in which ‘students’ develop the appropriate and necessary mental activity. This is done by providing pieces and specifications of what the students must become able to and set up or suggest activities that students use to achieve these changes or intended learning outcomes.

The future in the global knowledge economy depends critically on a country's intellectual and human capital. The ability of people to think and act creatively, work industriously and harmoniously, and adapt available methodologies to strengthen economic activities is cardinally important in the modern world. Constructive Alignment is a mechanism where stakeholders take responsibility for their own learning through a supportive environment for the mental activity to learn. As a critical resource for life, water and sanitation, as one of the UN’s Millennium Goals, is instrumental for poverty reduction. Enhancing capacity and skills of institutions and professionals working on water issues and preventing conflict are of paramount importance in reforms to manage water more effectively, improve performance and foster sustainability.