Make-up Blog

Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1964), republished by Penguin Books in 2009.

(Dana, I’m looking forward especially to your comments!)

In this work Thiong’o draws us in to the life of Njoroge, a maturing boy, during the revolution against colonial rule in Kenya, known as the Mau Mau war. I read this book hoping to learn about Kenya in preparation for our trip. (See Amazon for more details about the story.)

NARRATIVE AS A NECESSARY VEHICLE FOR EDUCATION

In general four modes of discourse are recognized: exposition, argumentation, description, narration. Weep Not, Child is a narrative, a form of historical fiction.

It’s not so good for learning facts. Hard details such as dates, places, people, events, etc. are not organized in a systematic, accessible format.

However, it is good for learning realities. Slippery entities such as perceptions, values and norms, cultural narratives, etc. are weaved through a story. I would argue that these entities are most at home in narrative because (1) they exist not in vacuums but in the lives (or stories) of real persons and groups (not impersonal objects), and (2) because the human experience is not one of mere analysis, persuasion, or detail. And I realize that I just tried to argue my case. Perhaps I should convince with a story.

In Weep Not I learned that land, education, wealth, family (and one’s place in a family), power and freedom are highly valued. No statement instructed me so, but it was from the joys and sorrows, dreams and toils of the characters. For some it was all about land: wealth and education were a means to an end. For others it was different. I also saw how diverse people really are. Simplifications can deceive a person into thinking that all Kenyans (or worse, Africans) are really quite alike in their outlooks, values, and desires. And a (good) story brings the unsimplifiable to life. Other aspects of life such as friendship, betrayal and loneliness, arrogance and meekness, mercy and justice, hope and misery – are not just described but are vicariously experienced.

Of course, one big problem with learning this way is that the reader is at the mercy of the author. And the more ignorant and impressionable the reader… well...

[PSSST… YOU KNOW, THIS IS A BLOG ABOUT WATER…]

So what might this have to do with water? Well, besides it being about Kenya...

First, water is not an end in itself. (It was not mentioned once in this story.) The principle concern is the livelihoods of people. Good narratives may help to keep us human, and can develop the person in unique ways. Second, understanding social-cultural context is increasingly recognized as essential to successful aid and development. Good narratives can help us to see and reason with the mind of others, entering their world in order to know them. They can provide insight into the priorities and hopes of people, communities, policy-makers, etc. Are they thinking about water? If they had water, what else would they think about, what else would they do?

Lecture 10: Policy and Science in the Great Lakes

Facilitated by Dr. Gail Krantzberg

ADAPTIVE COMANAGEMENT

I enjoyed the focus on our local Great Lakes: a history of issues, the development of policies (i.e. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement [GLWQA]), and the numerous remaining issues unaddressed by the GLWQA thereby calling for its revision.

One of the concepts being recommended for revising the management of the Great Lakes is "adaptive co-management." As most new jargon does, it looked flashy and sounded 'right', but it was meaningless to me. And so to remedy my ignorance, I read, and now I share.

Adaptive co-management (AcM) has been defined as "a process by which institutional arrangements and ecological knowledge are tested and revised in a dynamic, ongoing, self-organized process of learning-by-doing" (Olssen et al., 2004, p. 75). Attributes of AcM include: dynamic learning process (as opposed to stagnant); horizontal and vertical collaboration; and management structures that are flexible, evolving, and context appropriate (i.e. place-based). It couples learning and action. AcM attempts to deal with uncertainty, flex with changing conditions, and respond to the anthropogenic activities affecting biological processes on every scale.

An interesting aspect of AcM theory is that management responses (to ecosystem change) are tuned to match the dynamics of the ecosystem.

First, ecosystem dynamics need to be understood, and due to their complexity this requires collaboration. According to Olssen et al. (2004), this knowledge is stored in a ‘social memory,’ i.e., it is captured, embedded, and emerges in public debate and decisions regarding responses to ecological change. With practice this collaborative learning process matures. And while it’s maturing, it embeds (management) practices which cultivate the ecological memory. Thus, in theory, this learning/management process is self-strengthening. The degree to which management responds to environmental feedback and provides further sustainable direction is the degree to which it is successful.

What I find interesting is the active link between learning and doing. Each reinforces the other. It sounds simple enough. As we learn about a lake ecosystem, for example, our dealings with it ought, and ought to be able, to incorporate new information. (There has to be room for a knowledge broker somewhere in there.) Considering the other priorities of decision-makers, I can see how this sort of knowledge can become quite contentious. I also see the decision-maker’s need for continuing education and diverse networking. And I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt the scientists and other learners to acquaint themselves with commerce and management either.

If you’re interested in further reading, Olssen et al. (2004) exemplify this management model with case studies from Sweden and Canada and suggest seven essentials for the emergence of self-organized, adaptive comanagement systems.

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Olssen P, Folke C, and Berkes F (2004). Adaptive comanagement strategies for building resilience in social-ecological systems. Environmental Management 34(1), 75-90.

Seminar 8 ~ Capacity Building for Managing Water Challenges

24 January 2011

Facilitated by Dr. Colin Mayfield

In Colin's seminar we looked at the role of capacity building to overcome water challenges, and specifically at providing a core knowledge base to participants in Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) with a real UNU-INWEH case study. Afterward Colin recommended some TED Talks by Hans Rosling. One thing that particularly stuck out to me was, to borrow a phrase from Alex Bielak, the multitasking of every piece of information. I’ll append ‘gifts and skills’ to information, and expand multitasking to include cross-tasking (using one set of skills or knowledge in the context of another).

HANS ROSLING

If you avoid or yawn at statistics, Hans Rosling’s datasets just might wake you up. His research lies in global health which investigates the role of poverty on public health around the world. A number of things struck me from his presentations.

He possesses a number of skill-sets and knowledge-sets: statistics, computer programming, global health and poverty. He’s an orator and an educator. Add in some creativity, audacity, humour, and a fully dilated, critical eye, and interesting things start to happen.

His data is not amazing per se: it's not his and he doesn't have exclusive access to it. It's how he uses and arranges and displays it. He layers multiple levels of information with animated graphics to create a kind of artistic statistics. He essentially translates the trends of thousands of numbers, tables, charts, etc. to produce something palatable, even enjoyable, and accessible for the average person and politician, all in a matter of minutes.

DIVERSE, COMPETENT, CREATIVE

What I find intriguing about Dr. Rosling is what spawns from his combined skills, knowledge, and character. Let’s call this combination ‘the palette from which one paints’. First, as I noted above, his palette is diverse. Second, with his own palette he paints well. Third, he employs his creativity. Forgive me for trying to pull life-lessons out of our friend, but… I’m reminded of the advantages of being diverse in skills and knowledge. Not too diverse, like trying to know or do everything, but within one’s capacity. And doing certain, different things well. I personally appreciate his creative edge. Who says you can’t do art and math together?

So what does this have to do with water, or more particularly capacity building? For starters, UNU-INWEH’s Water Virtual Learning Center (WVLC), derived from the general knowledge of multiple disciplines, is essentially a smaller, broad-spectrum palette with individual colours (knowledge sets) taken from the larger, narrow-spectrum palettes of many disciplines. It’s been seen that when IWRM personnel have a more comprehensive, broad-spectrum understanding, good things happen.

What about the research of our WWB class? Could we combine photography, hot-air balloons, and topography for effective low-budget mapping? Hilary seems to think so. Or who knows what could come of Matt’s love of adventure, economics, and obscure eighteenth-century French philosophers. (Okay, perhaps I’m the obscure one.) Or my own… ? What’s on your palette?

Seminar 9 ~ Knowledge Mobilization and Transfer

7 February 2011

Dr. Alex Bielak (my apologies Alex for the late post)

Just as confused as your average grandmother, I read up quite a bit on all these knowledge-things. I ended up learning quite a bit about knowledge-translation (KT), knowledge-mobilization (KMb), knowledge-brokering (KB), or whatever other appendage you might add. And so I’d like to begin by mobilizing some of the whats, hows and wisdoms I gleaned from several broker’s stories.

• The what, who, when, how, why of KMb:
  ‘Knowledge mobilization is getting
  the right information
  to the right people
  at the right time
  in the right format
  so as to influence decision-making’ (Daryl Rock)
• KT/KB enables better connections between two worlds: research and practice, science and politics, knowledge-makers and knowledge-users, by working at the interface
• Over and over these brokers attest that establishing lasting interpersonal relationships between the two (or more?) worlds is essential and critical to success… because often the inhabitants of each are quite alien to the other… this interpersonal thread stands against the ‘old way’ of ‘trying to convince people [merely] through writing’ (Ben Levin)
• Laugh. It’s important. Really. (David Yetman)
  

Arming myself with some new (and helpful) jargon, I saw that this translating-brokering business is not new at all. I’ve been learning about learning and see considerable overlap with education. Consider the definition provided in the first point above. Is this not what good educators try to do? The purpose may be altered, or at least expanded… But like the researcher (K-maker or K-finder) needs someone (K-mobilizer) to get the K to the decision-maker (K-user), so does the scientist/ historian/ philosopher/ writer (K-maker or K-finder) need someone (K-mobilizer = educator) to get the K to the learners (K-users, K-enjoyers, K-?). Of course one person may where many K-hats. My point is that this idea is not new. And though it is not new, I think that older KMb contexts (like education) have something to learn.

In essence, there are three teams in this K-game: K-maker-finders, K-translater-mobilizers, and K-user-enjoyers. And yes this is a non-competitive, cooperative game. At least it’s supposed to be. But it doesn’t have to be boring. Let’s play.

In the following list of places, groups, etc., name each of the three teams. Depending on how you frame each, there may be more than one answer.

• Google.com
• TED Talks
• Mills Library
• Your high school
• The Toronto Raptors
• The Hamilton Spectator
• A walk-in medical clinic
• Community water resource development project
  

Now that we’ve generalized this to many K-contexts… could we generalize it further? Say, by replacing K with… food? There are certainly food-makers, food-mobilizers, and food-users. How about entertainment? Fashion? The arts? Or something terrible, like terror? … Discoverer-Generators, Translator-Mobilizers, User-Enjoyers.

As I write, I think these categories will help me to play this K-game well… to know my role and do it well, and to understand the role and needs of the other teams. Perhaps even as I develop my research plans and return to Kenya to work with the Il Ngwesi communities.

Jesse

Seminar 7 ~ Managing Water in Water-scarce Environments

10 January 2011

Facilitated by Dr. Richard Thomas

Dr. Thomas spoke about dry-lands: the global context; traditional water management and harvesting methods; and challenges and threats. Then he led us in discussion about the causes of, aggravating factors of, and possible solutions for global water scarcity. The gender issue came up, and I wanted to explore it more. Thanks for reading with grace :)

What is the gender issue?

Personally, the term sounds a bit euphemistic. Broadly speaking, it is that a woman’s dignity and worth are under-appreciated and devalued. This is expressed by not recognizing and/or not respecting her intelligence, her perspective, her labour, her potential, or simply just her. Subsequently, women are neglected, abused, and exploited. The greatest guilt for these offenses lay at the feet of men, either for active participation, passive cowardice, or indifference.

How does this play out in water issues?

In developing countries, women and girls are typically responsible for water collection. This requires long daily trips for often dirty water brought back in quantities that are heavy (which may cause health problems) yet small (limited amounts for drinking, cleaning, cooking, gardening). These problems worsen during menstruation and pregnancy as the quality and quantity of water becomes more important for hygiene, hydration, and nutritional food preparation. Inadequate sanitation facilities may injure her dignity, expose her to dangers from animals and men, and expel her prematurely from school. Recall from Susan and Corinne’s seminar that while the men weren’t interested in latrines, the women thought otherwise.

Important pieces for solutions

Worldview matters. How we perceive reality and our role in it will affect how we live. The inequality of women is a by-product of certain worldviews, whether this is recognized or not. As this is part of the problem, it must be addressed in the solution.

Men matter. At the very least because they are such a large part of the problem. Women can not and should not correct this ailment on their own, nor should they be expected to. This is comparable to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, where white men and women fought for the emancipation of their black friends.

Jesus matters. Here’s a big can of worms. For what it’s worth, I’m persuaded that he does. I won’t explore this further here, and would rather in-person, but I’ll at least be upfront and say it.

The (wo)man in the mirror

It’s so easy to judge the extreme and the other and disregard ourselves. “Before we conquer the world, we must first conquer the self.” Here are some questions to help evaluate our views and their influences.

1. Have I been wounded by a member of the opposite sex?
2. What kind of relationship did I have with my mother? My father?
3. How did my parents and other role models treat members of the opposite sex?
4. What do I think of pornography? Prostitution? Abortion?
5. How are men and women portrayed in the music/books/magazines/tv shows/movies that I enjoy?

Additional information

UN Women

UN WomenWatch

Women’s Health in WHO’s health topics

Problems for women from WaterAid UK

Seminar 4 ~ Global Responses to the Water Crisis

[My apologies for the late post]

The indigenous principle

We began the seminar with a brief overview of the different kinds of responses to the world’s water crisis. Official (or Overseas) Development Aid (ODA) is a particular economic response. It was mentioned that recipient states increasingly request more control in using ODA. More or less, they reason: “We understand our context best. Therefore, let us figure out how to use it.”

I was attracted to WWB because INWEH seeks to apply the indigenous principle. Part of INWEH’s mission statement reads (emphasis mine),

“It is now widely accepted that a critical factor contributing to the water crisis is the lack of indigenous capacity… in many developing countries. Despite some progress, many barriers remain, including the fragmented, intermittent, donor-driven, project-based approach that has been so ineffective, and even damaging, in the past.”

I presume that this is quite clear to us. In my reflections I was reminded that this is not an epiphany of the (post-) modern era, and was helped by looking at an analogous dilemma was faced by first-century Christ-followers.

An ancient application

In the ancient world, society’s institutions (e.g. government, business, family, ‘religion’) were quite integrated, whereas today they are quite separate. For example, Greco-Roman civic duty required citizens to offer sacrifices to their emperor; trade guilds likewise venerated various deities. Similarly, ancient Israel was a theocracy: there was no separation of ‘church’ and state and culture.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth, an unusual rabbi teaching norms antithetical to both Jews and non-Jews (and North Americans), claiming to be the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel, the long-awaited chosen king. After he lived, died, and rose from the dead, his disciples began spreading to all nations the good news of what his death accomplished.

The promises, the earliest disciples, Jesus himself – all spring from a Jewish context. What would this mean for non-Jewish Christ-followers? “Must they believe in Jesus and become a Jew, or is Jesus enough?” We must understand that the Mosaic Law (particularly male circumcision) was the covenantal sign from God to Israel, an uncontested pillar in Jewish identity. Long-story short, Jesus was enough: he was the end of the law. In fact, the first (Jewish) disciples considered it heretical to impose Jewish law on non-Jewish believers. Subsequently, as the news spread, indigenous leadership was established to mediate their King’s love and rule appropriately in diverse contexts.

Questions for consideration

Development aid policies, institutions, solutions and more also spring from a particular context. I think consideration of the following questions will bring helpful perspective in diminishing crises of all kinds.

1. Are we aware of our own cultural values? Can I pinpoint the specifics of my own?
2. What uncontested pillars/norms define my culture, my life?
3. Do I understand the context of aid recipients?
4. What do they really need? What don’t they need? What is enough?
5. Do our solutions impose Western values that may hinder the intended goal?
6. Has our contextualization permeated to enable diverse economic, political, and institutional means?
7. Are we intentional in increasing indigenous capacity, even if it is inconvenient?

Seminar 3 ~ Water Governance and Policy 2: Activism

Reading: Ken Conca. (2006). Governing Water, ch. 6-10

Activism and Advocacy

Graham made a helpful distinction between activism and advocacy. In general, I understand that advocacy gathers support for a particular issue, intending either to bring or to resist change; and activism assigns blame for a particular issue, pressuring the responsible party to change. Advocacy will attack the problem general, while activism will attack a party particular (the ‘villain’). I’m unsure if the distinction is generally made on these grounds, but it helps me to understand two approaches to promoting social change. The video Graham played, for example, is a tame case of advocacy.

One classmate commented that activist tactics may be unhelpful in the long run. Due to their typically reactive and aggressive nature, the community may not learn skills or establish organization to deal with future problems. I also would guess that many potential participants are sidelined because their temperaments do not align with the temperament of activism.

Activism does have its benefits. Its participants operate quickly in manners that draw public attention and gain public sympathy. They also identify a specific party by assigning blame and demanding restitution. This villain feature of activism is important because if no one is made responsible, no one is held accountable, and change may be slow if at all. Activist pressure can bring faster results, and Conca demonstrates this in the later chapters of his book.

So two distinct characteristics of activism are its aggressive tactics and its identification of a villain.

I think attention-grabbing strategies can serve a very needed purpose. The officials, investors, executives, experts, etc making extremely important decisions are often physically (and thus emotionally) displaced from the issues. (How many world leaders, executives, or UN chairs go home to decrepit housing, undrinkable water, and malnourished children?) In a context increasingly emphasizing business protocol, comfort, and self-indulgence, something is needed to remind us of the horrors and injustice faced by so many. And sometimes this is well-served by public criticism, disturbing images, or a naked protester.

“Remember son, Don’t talk about politics and…”

I’ve been wrestling with a way to make my blog my blog. You won’t know me and how I think unless you know that the life I live I live not for me but for Jesus, who died and rose for me. All of my thinking (and I think a lot) is done to, for, and with God – this class included. As we were asked to blog critical reflections, I have obscured their fullness and concealed the One who taught me to think. I then feel handicapped and sense I may have robbed our class of a fruitful dimension. Every time we meet we break a naïve rule by talking about political matters, and so far we have been well-behaved. In future blogs, I will be honoured to break another norm by including a biblical, relevant, God-ward meditation.

- jn

A Look Below the Surface

Reading: Ken Conca, Governing Water, chapters 1-5.

[My apologies for my late post.]

Some matters are so complex, that I find it extremely fruitful to peel back the layers and expose its core. And from here surfaces the pivotal, central, fundamental issue(s). Sometimes this compounds the original complexity, because the original matter was just one of many limbs sprouting from the same root. But nevertheless, I then see at last (though sometimes barely) a simplicity ruling the complexity, a unity ordering the diversity.

I spent a lot of time in the first chapter. I read like a turtle walks, and Ken Conca was charting a course with so many twists and turns that I feared getting lost, or least missing the sights. Conca begins by examining “controversies that swirl around water issues” (p. 3). “Attempts… to govern water globally… seem doomed to founder on more fundamentally contested questions” (p. 4). In other words, the real/root issue of the water crisis is not water. The nature of these “contested questions” is much more fundamental.

During the seminar I posed the question, What values ought to frame water’s place and use in the world? Graham then added, How do we choose these values? or, How do we value our values? We are familiar with certain ‘metanorms’ (meta meaning ‘higher order’), or rules about rules. Consider science, for example. Before I ask “What is gravity?” I must first answer “What is science, and how is it done?” Or consider history. Before I ask “Who was Pontius Pilate?” I must first answer “What is history, and how is it done?”

So it is with water. Before we ask “What is water, who’s is it, and for what?” we must first answer “What is the world? Who am I / are we? How am I to live?” Whether we think about these questions or not, our values and behaviour whisper our answer. Conca (p. 40, emphasis mine) pinpoints the presumptions of three critical characteristics of regimes, which reveal a certain way of looking at the world and living together in it:

"Extending the popular metaphor of regimes as rules of the game, Basel and Montreal share strong presumptions about the territorial boundaries of play, about standing and hierarchy among states and lesser players, and about the path to victory through science and bureaucracy."

But many disagree (hence the contention), Nature being one of them (hence the failure). To me it’s remarkable that this global problem surfaces and pivots on questions so basic to existence. But… maybe I got it all wrong.

So I suppose the question is, How ought we perceive the world, ourselves, our purpose?

Course Introduction: JMP and GLAAS

TARGETED vs. TIED

‘Targeted aid’ is a key term in the GLAAS 2010 report. What is it? In general, a ‘well-targeted resource’ (1) is allocated with intelligent forethought, and (2) is designated to the most needy and unserved peoples. Consequently, the use of targeted aid is not determined by the donor alone.

The GLAAS 2010 report mentioned the importance of untied aid, and that donor aid has been increasingly untied over the last ten years (p. 61). In my ignorance, I then wondered, ‘What is tied aid? What’s the difference?’ I first thought that tied aid meant the donor decided how the money would be spent. I learned that tied aid requires the recipient country to expend the tied dollars in the donor country. So, if Japan gives $25 million in tied funds to Ethiopia, Ethiopia needs to spend it all on Japanese exports.

On the surface these words could be synonyms. But in context they are technical terms (i.e. they possess a precise meaning). For me, the biggest reminder: Get your terms straight.

NUMBED BY NUMBERS

And fighting not to be. I admit that I wish I had more compassion than I do. A lot of figures were given about poverty, illness, people lacking access to services, etc, and death. I want to remember that each number is a person – a son, daughter, mother, father, sister, uncle, grandma, friend. One sick or deceased person affects many others. I hope I never get used to hearing these numbers.

PERHAPS THE LARGEST WATER PROBLEM

Amongst the many sectors of development, provision of safe drinking-water and sanitation (DW&S) services should arguably receive one of the highest priorities. Health-care savings, productive labour days, increased school attendance, convenience from better service, and prevented deaths are the potential paybacks for investing in DW&S provision (GLAAS, 2010, p. 9).

Amongst many factors, Dr Adeel summarized the “key drivers” in the global water crisis to be “mismanagement, lack of appropriate policy and inadequate governance,” noting that “behavioural change is the most difficult” (handout, p. 7, italics his). Probably right on. So the questions become, Whose behaviour? What behaviours? A short list:

• Authoritative officials – Prioritization; Dealing with various interests and pressures from all stakeholders; Vested interests and selfish inclinations
• Citizens who “have” – Water-use habits
• Water-using industries – Consumption habits; water-use purposes; control of effluent quality

Persons in each category are faced with two more “behavioural” problems: Becoming informed (knowledge is an asset, particularly key decision makers), and responding to the question inferred from the water crises: “Will I help those in need?"

NOTEWORTHY ITEMS

• In the three-step Drinking Water Ladder, bottled water is an ‘unimproved drinking-water source’ (JMP, p. 13).
• Hamilton residential water rate, 2010: ~ CDN $ 1.05 per m3 (midway between NY and London from the slides; with current exchange rate [almost at par])
• RE: Dr Adeel’s analogy of teens with a credit card to the world’s exploitation of water: Since when have adults controlled their debt? :P