GLOBAL WATER INITIATIVE
INFLUENCING STRATEGY
IIED, February 2008
This is a working paper that aims to guide the thinking of GWI partners with regard to
influencing policy change within their respective regions. As the programme is still in
its first year of operation its is expected that this paper will develop as partners refine
their influencing objectives, define their learning needs and bring their own
experience and lessons learned to bear on the content of this paper. As a result, the
current version of the paper contains some questions that GWI partners may
consider in order to take the discussion further.
1. INFLUENCING POLICY
While the goal of sustainable water management may be widely accepted, the policy
changes needed to achieve it are not. The GWI aims to address this challenge,
through identifying, developing and drawing on appropriate policies, sound
methodology and good practice. This learning will then be used to influence the
policy and practice of a cross section of stakeholders, operating locally, nationally
and globally.
Decision makers and professionals in the water sector need to strengthen their
knowledge and skills to develop a long-term vision for water management better to
address livelihoods and human well-being. Innovative partnerships, such as the
GWI, are an excellent opportunity to improve and inform procedures and practices,
re-position services and update capacities. The activities and interests of planners,
engineers, managers and users in the water sector need to have their activities and
interests integrated in the agendas of other key areas, such as human settlements,
natural resource management, and nature conservation. To do so requires a tailored
response to the diverse challenges they face and consequent demands for data,
information, know-how and skills.
What do we mean by “policy”?
Policy is not the monopoly of government. In simple terms it is a programme of
actions adopted by an individual, group, or government, or the set of principles on
which they are based. In practice, forming, changing and implementing policies are
complex and indeterminate processes. They take place locally, nationally and
globally, in informal settings and in giant bureaucracies. They involve negotiation,
debate, inspiration and, all too often, conflict and disillusionment.
The temptation is to reduce the challenge of policy influence to one of identifying and
studying policy options, and providing advice to ‘policy-makers’, who then decide
which ones to implement. But this sectorally focussed, expert-driven linear model of
decision making is misconceived, and is based on an overly narrow understanding of
how knowledge is generated and shared, who should contribute to policy research
and how policy regimes change. In this regard there are three main issues to be
considered:
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Knowledge: In addition to conventional research, practical experience and
local non-specialist knowledge should contribute to our understanding of
sustainable water management. GWI partners have an important role to play
in the generation of knowledge and experience on providing water and
sanitation as they implement and evaluate their projects. How can we ensure
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that this knowledge is fed into policy decision-making process at local,
national and international levels?
Stakeholder engagement: Those affected by policies deserve to have their
opinions and views taken seriously, because governments and policymakers
are accountable to the people they serve and because this will help to
determine the most effective incentives and structures for management and
service provision. The role of the GWI in facilitating these links is important
and partners should develop mechanisms and systems to ensure
communication and exchange among project beneficiaries, project
implementers and decision-makers. Sharing information about which
mechanisms work and how best to use them will also be an important role of
the GWI.
Impact: Policy change is not a rational, linear process. Simply conveying
research results to government officials is a very ineffective way of influencing
policy. Impact is more likely from a combination of ways of working as
outlined in Box 1 below.
Box 1: Ways of working for influence
Building constituencies – supporting groundswell and networks to (one day) push policy (implicit
here is the long-term engagement and staying power to support)
Drawing-in policy makers – Involving the current ‘holders’ of policy in the process of analysis.
Serving the policy machine – Technical support on demand to improve currently policy and
process
Staying connected – seizing policy opportunities. Acting politically and maximising activity when
policy leverage points appear.
Creating vision – capturing minds and stimulating debates.
Convening better policy processes – showing how policy can be improved by fostering
alternative policy processes
Offering do-it-yourself policy research kits – methodology development and training material
on how to assess policy situations and development ‘solutions’.
Source: Mayers and Bass, 1998
The link between ways of working and effective
policy outcomes can be described by a triangular
set of relationships which involve choices about:
1. building effective knowledge and ensuring its
transfer.
2. identifying and working with the appropriate
actors
3. developing or operating in spaces where knowledge and actors can be brought
together to shape and change policy and
4. understanding and working with the relationships that connect these elements.
What does this mean practically (what is effective knowledge and who are the
appropriate actors) in the context of water and sanitation for the different regions?
Key questions include:
Who do we want to influence, Ministries of Water who else?
What kind of stakeholders should be brought together
How does it happen? What tactics are needed to get their attention and involve
them in the process?
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To begin to answer these questions we need to develop mechanisms for sharing and
tailoring information amongst GWI partners.
2. How we will influence policy
2.1 The GWI organisations
Each organisation within the GWI operates through a strategy and set of objectives
that derive from its own culture and history. As a diverse group, the members of the
GWI will discuss and agree a broad framework of what changes are sought in water
policy and implementation, and how to achieve such changes. Below are a set of
principles to frame this debate, and on which we will build a strategy for influence.
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Influence stems from a mixture of authority, legitimacy, opportunity and
timing. The authority and legitimacy of messages and ideas coming from the
Initiative will derive from recognition that GWI partners have long-standing,
well-founded experience from the field.
Opportunity and timing are often central to achieving change. Seizing
opportunity is partly a question of being prepared, but also having good
intelligence about emerging openings where well-grounded messages can be
positioned.
Making multiple connections horizontally and vertically amplifies the chances
of influence being effective. Power and capacities for action are located in a
range of different structures and scales.
Ideas have great power, if well-expressed and clearly illustrated.
Conventional wisdom should be challenged, where necessary. The GWI
partners should not fear disagreeing with the mainstream view, where they
have counter evidence which demonstrates better ways of achieving
objectives.
The GWI needs to maintain its focus on the poor and find ways to strengthen
their voices, at different levels.
Do and think. Be pragmatic and flexible. Find opportunities for joint reflection
and learning within each region, and at global level.
Understanding power and interests sets the scene for identifying how to make
change happen. Vested interests can often block new policy measures and
their implementation. GWI partners need to analyse the different groups with
an interest in local, national and global water matters, and how for some their
strategies might be better aligned with that of the GWI. Some groups however
may have no interest in seeing change happen. Building alliances with other
people and organisations to generate critical mass is one means to counter
these interests.
Practical tools which professionals can try out and adapt to their setting offer
a good focus for joint work across the GWI.
2.2 Partnerships, alliances and collaboration
The GWI will build alliances and collaborate with a broad range of partners. This
larger group will generate positive policy change through identifying, documenting
and analysing new ways of delivering equitable and sustainable water management,
including the delivery and maintenance of basic water supply and sanitation services.
By linking practice to policy the GWI will enable a wider understanding of what
policies and policy arrangements work.
Establishing water learning groups is an important platform for developing ideas,
exchanging experience and opening up debate on new ways of delivering water.
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These learning groups will involve GWI organisations and a broader range of
stakeholders. In each case they will set their own agenda, appropriate to the
contexts and priorities in that country or region. The learning groups will assess
where and why certain policies and arrangements work, and combine a research
focus on underlying principles, with a pragmatic focus on what ‘policy-makers’ are
looking for. In their analysis of policy influence, the learning groups will be guided by
the following questions:
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What are the arrangements used to transform a policy into practice?
What are the institutional conditions under which change can happen?
What are the drivers for change?
Can this process be replicated and scaled-up?
To effectively establish an influencing strategy, partnerships between project and
national level actors is vital. This requires the building of trust and a considerable
amount of time. Establishing partnerships that will make a difference requires
significant investment and understanding by all parties. Some ideas of ways to
achieve this are to:
 Bring different actors together within new arenas to enable a range of voices to
be heard, through meetings, newsletters, workshops at local, national and
regional levels.
 Ensure that those whose voices are usually lost or ignored feel able to participate
in these new fora or on existing platforms by supporting them to carry out their
own analysis of the problem articulate their arguments to local, national and
regional decision makers. The ultimate aim is to increase their engagement in
debate (policy or public) after external support is withdrawn;
 Build and support links with local organisations and individuals so as to increase
the ownership of the new arena;
 Encourage diverse ways of working with both partners and other
agencies/organisations to build long term capacity for change and influence;
 Engage with partners and in specific regions over a longer period of time so as to
enable a deeper understanding of the local environment and policy arena which
in turn maximises opportunities to affect change;
 Build a mutual understanding among partners which allows all parties to react
quickly if the need arises;
 Develop recognition and credibility as a result of long-term engagement with
issues and actors who are not usually part of formal policy making processes.
 Identify leaders at local and national levels across regions and facilitate
interactions to promote knowledge sharing and learning both across space
(countries and regions) and scale (local, national and regional)
2.3 Linking and working at different levels
Changing policy does not occur through working only at one particular level. In an
increasingly integrated or globalised world, it is important to use information and
generate change at different levels – local, national and international. This implies
that linkages need to be between these different levels. Developing the associated
relationships involves simultaneous or coordinated engagement on each element of
policy change in local, national and international arenas. In this way, field level
projects no longer operate in isolation but are directly linked to ongoing discussions
and priority setting at higher levels. The connections between these levels must be
facilitated by a strong communications strategy and programme of activities.
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2.4 The importance of communications
Communications is at the heart of the GWI influencing strategy. If we are to inform
and influence key actors we must be able to translate findings into clear messages,
targeted at a range of audiences using different media. The table below illustrates
some of the tools, audiences and approaches which will be used in the development
of a communications strategy.
Box 2: Elements of a communications strategy
Aims
Make information
accessible
Raising profile to
influence change
Communications
for Development
Spaces
Virtual and Physical
(The Tools)
Websites
Meetings
Conferences
Print and other media
Actors
(Local, National,
Global)
Sector specialists,
students, academics,
researchers,
practitioners, NGOs,
policy makers
Networking
Events, Meetings
Media debate
Conferences
Website
Donors
Opinion Formers
Like minded
organisations
Reference Groups,
Peers and Advocates
Partners
Practitioners
Communications
Professionals/Experts,
Donors
Blogs, Discussion
Groups, Website,
Critical Themes, Local
To Global press work
Video Conferencing
Knowledge
(Products)
Research, Reports
Participation Tools
Information
Papers
Working Papers
Subject Newsletters
Policy messages
Position statements
Press releases
Briefings
General Newsletters
Working papers
Mainstreaming
Communications
M&E Tools
Monitoring and
sharing results
Key Questions: How can GWI partners work together to develop and implement a
communications strategy? What are our shared specific objectives and how can we
best achieve them?
Pushing Out information and Pulling People In
The communications strategy will rely on a two way process: ‘pushing’ information
out to all key stakeholders – both those of primary importance as well as to a much
wider secondary audience. Information will be in a range of relevant media and
formats (e.g. print and video) and will be designed and targeted according to the
intended audience.
To be influential and sustainable the GWI needs to continually forge strong
relationships: ‘pulling’ people in through consistent relevant engagement. Increasing
contacts through the media, conferences, events and
networks will create a more flexible and spontaneous
way of being in touch with different people. The
communications strategy will ensure that people
move up the advocacy ladder until they are proactively working to promote the work and ideas of the
GWI and its partners.
Whether pushing out information, or drawing people
in towards the organisation, messages will target
specific audiences. The GWI build our
understanding of different audiences and how to
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tailor communications outputs through initial research.
3. What next?
The discussion above provides some conceptual ideas and frameworks for
developing an influencing strategy but this needs to be further developed with clear
plans for action, timeframes and outputs. Some ideas for next steps include:
a. The development of an option paper that outlines various approaches that can be
used to influence water management at different levels (e.g. high level policy
makers, local level decision makers, targeted influencing for businesses and
investors and combination strategies)
b. The development of a set of global projects to explore, discuss and develop
thoughts and approaches for influencing. For example a documentary series or a
programme to strengthen engagement in global processes.
How can we take these ideas further and what mechanisms can be put in place to
share learning and experiences amongst GWI partners on this issue? This paper is
a starting point. It is anticipated that further discussion amongst partners will develop
these ideas to come up with concrete objectives and outputs.
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