Open Letter to UNICEF
posted by Frank van Steenbergen April 29, 2013 If you would head an organization whose mandate is to protect of the … Continued
The WaterBlog
Training, but then Problem-Based
by Jan Teun Visscher, Taha al-Washali, Osama Al-Jalaini, Belal Al-Shuja’a and Frank van Steenbergen It is not unusual for trainings consisting of experts presenting interesting topics to a mixed group of people, sharing the latest approach and insights. Quite often this is where it stays: even if highly relevant, the individual trainee may not be able to bring the classroom insights into the workflow of his/her organization. Particularly, in emergencies or challenging development contexts, such as Yemen, such training may not strike a chord with the work challenges of the trainees. Yet training can be done differently – and capacity building can be problem-based right from the beginning. This note presents an overview of the results and impact of a problem-based capacity building program for local institutions that was developed in Yemen in 2022 and implemented effectively in 2023 and 2024. The capacity building… Continued
Previous posts
Good Grab, Bad Grab
posted by Frank van Steenbergen April 22, 2013 With the large and sometimes overexposed attention for land grabbing in Africa, good … Continued
Pocket paradises
posted by Frank van Steenbergen April 01, 2013 Cities grow and there is nothing stopping them. In 2050 not half but … Continued
The Coming Plastic Revolution
posted by Frank van Steenbergen March 04, 2013 Is this the next revolution in agriculture and water management: plastic mulch? In … Continued
Towards a Lighter Burden: A Small Step
March 09, 2013 Square, unwieldy and (often) yellow, jerry cans are a common sight in rural areas across the world. … Continued
Freak Climate Changes
posted by Frank van Steenbergen March 04, 2013 While we ponder on long term climate change, and on what the middle … Continued
On Water User Associations (WUAs)
{jcomments on}posted by Frank van Steenbergen, courtesy Rajeshwar Mishra February 25, 2013 They were sometimes created by the stroke of a … Continued
Cactus, the Arid Miracle
posted by Ahmed Albakri, Bothinah Albakri, Sharafuddin A. Saleh and Frank van Steenbergen February 18, 2013 Cactus is a miracle plant. … Continued
Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa
Helping small farmers protect their land by William Critchley, VU University. Amsterdam, The Netherlands Failed soil conservation schemes, based on ‘command … Continued
The World We Want: Governing & Managing Water Resources for Sustainable Development
posted by Joakim Harlin, UNDP February 11, 2013 The pressures on water resources that more and more countries are experiencing … Continued
Moon Water
posted by Frank van Steenbergen February 4, 2013 In the nineteenth century, as white farmers moved up north in what … Continued
Use of rock dust in bio- fertilizers.
posted by Ruben Borge January 28, 2013 The Usambara Cooperative Union (UCU) in Tanzania is proud of their fair trade … Continued
The Power of Dew
posted by Frank van Steenbergen January 21, 2013 Even as surface water is overcommitted and even new groundwater resources get … Continued
Managing Mega Irrigation
posted by Frank van Steenbergen January 15, 2013 It is the world’s largest irrigation system, also called ‘the Indus … Continued
Managing Mega Irrigation
Blog: Managing Mega Irrigation posted by Frank van Steenbergen January 15, 2013 It is the world’s largest irrigation system, also … Continued
The Origin of Measuring Time
posted by Frank van Steenbergen December 31, 2012 Several sociologists such as Johan Goudsbloem have chronicled the fascinating story of time – … Continued
Good Neighbours
posted by Frank van Steenbergen December 24, 2012 The coming year will be the International Year of Water Cooperation. While there … Continued
Mekong: A River, its people and Big Dams
posted by Michael Victor, CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (m.victor@cgiar.org) December 18, 2012 Dam building is a complicated … Continued
Seeding Clouds, Harvesting Rain: Beware of the Hype
posted December 16, 2012 In public imagination, cloud-seeding has only recently crossed over from the realm of science fiction to … Continued
How the British did it better
by Usman Qazi In a relentless pursuit of growth and development, the Pakistani state has ignored colonial-era strategies—that took natural risks, … Continued