This REACH Story of Change is about the development of a best practice guide on organizing inclusive conferences, based on research, expert consultation, and a survey of over 230 respondents. Since its launch in 2019, the guide has had significant policy and practice impact, influencing event design across sectors.
Year
We must account for the results of water governance to deliver the SDGs and beyond
This perspectives paper focuses on tracking the results of water governance, arguing that the crisis of water governance is one of delivering results, particularly as a widening range of public, community, and private actors get involved in addressing fundamental challenges around the SDGs and beyond. The challenge is illustrated via two examples of governance innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Spatial and Seasonal Water Quality and Heavy Metal Pollution for Irrigation Use in Awash River, Ethiopia
Irrigation water quality impacts the agro-ecosystem, human health, and the overall well-being of the environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate upstream municipal and industrial pollution impacts on irrigated farming and ecosystem health. The suitability indices and Heavy Metal Pollution Index methods have been used to identify the contamination extent and corresponding spatial and seasonal variability. Samples were collected twice per annum, i.e., during the low-flow season and high-flow season (rainy season) in the 2022/23 year. Results demonstrate that metal pollution is a serious concern that needs upstream quality monitoring.
From participation to empowerment the case of women in community‑based water management in hydrologically diverse southwest coastal Bangladesh
Women’s participation in water management institutions (WMOs) is seen as a vehicle for female empowerment and gender equity, yet this does not guarantee women are actively involved in decision making. This paper investigates opportunities for women’s empowerment via participation in WMOs in water insecure southwest coastal Bangladesh. Using qualitative research tools and methods, the study examines the extent and nature of women’s participation in WMOs and the factors that affect the level of participation in varying hydrological settings.
Rolling-out rural water regulation in Kenya: a review of progress and key processes
This document discusses the need for step-wise progression towards implementing the Guideline for the management of rural water and sanitation services published by Wasreb, Kenya’s water regulator in 2019. It combines insight from engagements with Wasreb, rural water service providers, and other stakeholders to identify where there is a need to develop, strengthen and/or clarify key processes.
Balancing growth and river protection in Bangladesh’s most important export industries
Balancing economic growth and river protection is a significant undertaking, but not an impossible one. This policy paper addresses the environmental, social, and regulatory complexities surrounding industrial production in Bangladesh. It examines how power dynamics in global supply chains influence state-market regulatory relationships and provides recommendations to strengthen state regulatory capacity, enhance civil society participation in regulatory processes, and strengthen public-private partnerships through global-local alignment.
REACH Story of Change: Fostering innovation in interdisciplinary public engagement through Fair Water?
This Story of Change explores the Fair Water? exhibition, a collaboration between REACH scientists and public engagement experts at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History to engage the public in discussions on water justice and communicate the value and influence of research.
Based on extensive collaboration between REACH researchers and the museum exhibitions team, the exhibition used art, interviews, animations, interactive displays, and specimens from the museum to reveal some of the global barriers to water equality and explore how researchers, communities and policymakers are working together to shape a fair water future.
Climate resilience and water security – Key messages from the REACH Kenya programme 2015-2024
This report from the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA) at the University of Nairobi, Kenya provides a summary of key messages from research conducted under the REACH Kenya programme (2015-2024).
Ten years of REACH Kenya
A brief overview of work by the REACH programme in Kenya on interlinked groundwater systems, institutions, water quality management and reducing inequalities, illustrating milestones in the Kitui and Turkana Water Security Observatories.
Rethinking responses to the world’s water crises
This perspective paper in Nature Sustainability reframes responses to mitigating the world’s water crises using a ‘beyond growth’ framing. Beyond growth is systems thinking that prioritizes the most disadvantaged. It seeks to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation by overcoming policy capture and inertia and by fostering place-based and justice-principled institutional changes.
