HOW TO CONTINUE THE DISCUSSION?
After more than 20 hours together and a lot of discussion, a lot of questions were still open.
After the presentations on Indicators, the group went into an Open Space exercise. The dynamics of this exercise is based on four basic principles:
1. Whoever comes is the right person
2. Whatever happens is what have to happen
3. When it is over it is over
4. Whenever it happens is the right moment
Those principles are supported by the two feet law – this law says that when you feel that you need to move on, you should do so.
The objective was to look at urgent issues identified through the discussions, the inputs from the Online Discussion and the issues that each person is interested in. This was a way of allowing participants to focus down on their key areas of interest.
The dynamics of the exercise was:
· All the participants of the Round Table had the opportunity to suggest a topic for discussion by presenting it to the group and posting it, defining the time and place for discussion. The person who suggested a topic acted as a leader of the discussion. Each discussion leader was responsible for producing a report at the end of the discussion. Those reports will be made available in the weblog when we have gathered them all together.
· Once the topics were posted, all members of the group were able to choose which discussion they wanted to be involved in
· Nine discussion were held between 11:00 and 15:00
The discussion topics were:
· Indicators for Governance
· Impact assessment as a process making data live after the event
· What follow up (joint activities, knowledge, products, etc). Would you like to see from this event?
· Impact Evaluation for a district level WASH governance intervention (Design + Details) where we are developing a methodology + change for “Good Governance”
· WASH impact as part of Long Term multi-stakeholder sustainability assessment/ reporting
· Corruption and Governance towards outcomes for impact
· How do we manage for results (outcomes/ impacts) towards institutional change plus Good Governance
· Measuring partnerships for service (R&D) delivery
· What are the essential questions we should be asking regarding WASH Governance to achieve Impact that is sustainable and scalable?
CLOSING
After the open space exercise, the groups met again in order to reflect on this exercise in particular and the Round Table in general.
Online Discussion
Finally Internet connection was available, thus it was possible to look at the weblog directly from the site J
The objective is to continue using the weblog as a platform for sharing materials and information related to this topic.
Participants will e-mail links and interesting information to Sandra Segura. All participants are invited to give feedback on the summaries of the Round Table blocks and the report that will be produced (target date – by the end of May).
The weblog will be available at least until the IRC Thematic Overview Paper is published on this topic.
Feedback
· In general the group was satisfied with the Round Table structure and the time for discussion. The open space exercise was highly appreciated
· There is the general feeling that it should not be the end of the Round Table, it should be the start of a good discussion
· The group was satisfied with the opportunity for sharing and learning. The combination of skills, background and sectors facilitated this process.
· There was the feeling that a certain moment the discussion was too abstract, although the open space exercise facilitates more concrete discussion
In closing this report; on behalf of IRC I would like to thank you all of you for your Inputs and motivation during this event J
Blog reports have been prepared by Sandra Segura with support from Peter McIntyre
