WELL Factsheet: People-centred integrated water resources management (IWRM)

Despite the guiding principles upon which is it is based, in reality people are rarely at the centre of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Or put another way, IWRM programmes are, in many respects, just business as usual. This factsheet considers some of the different approaches to promoting stakeholder participation in IWRM, and especially entry-points and strategies for more bottom-up implementation of the concept. These alternative approaches include building IWRM principles into projects and programmes rather than focusing solely on the catchment level, using local laws and institutions as a basis for water management, linking to the domestic water sector’s mission to supply water to all and responding to peoples’ real demands for water. Links are provided in this factsheet to a variety of sources on innovative approaches to making IWRM more people-centred, practical and manageable to implement.

Author: John Butterworth, October 2006 Quality assurance: SJeroen Ensink, Jeroen Warner, Kees Leedertse and Andy Cotton Edited and produced as a PDF document: May 2020

Produced by WEDC and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the Department of International Development (DFID) of the UK government (now the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)), this archive collection of WELL factsheets remains relevant. It covers topics ranging from the anaerobic treatment of municipal wastewater through to water quality and safety plans.