In December 2006 the EAWA workshop “Bridging Research, Technology & Development: Sustainable Water Resource Management in Eastern Africa” was held in Mombasa, Kenya. It was attended by more than 130 participants drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Sudan, Austria, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The sponsors of this workshop were the Africa Water Facility (AWF) and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). The organizers of the workshop were the Eastern Africa Water Association (EAWA), Africa Water Facility (AWF), Egerton University, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The main theme of the workshop was to bring forth research application and reduce the gap between research and development. The structure of the workshop included acquiring knowledge from experts through plenary presentations, discussions and also excursion visits. The aims and activities formulated for this workshop therefore brought forth a nouvelle conceptual model which focuses on an inclusive approach where all stakeholders are involved in the translation of research findings to development processes in Eastern Africa.
After discussions and comments from the participants, the following five key issues, some of which were cross cutting, were found to be of great concern to the people of Eastern Africa.
*     Appropriate/demand driven research
Research ideas should be multidisciplinary and originate from the needs of the community who are the key stakeholders. However, appropriate research is not only demand-driven by the user communities, but the researchers must also give necessary information to guide the community.
*     Information and communication
Research findings should be communicated to the stakeholders in a well packaged manner through translation in understandable language targeting the end-users.
*     Resource mobilization
Successful and appropriate research requires mobilization of human capacity for research, capital facilities and the budgetary allocations.
*     Monitoring and Evaluation
For quality management and tracking of the impact of research, continuous evaluation through establishment of independent body should be mandatory.
*     Policy Integration
Policy guidelines should be established through involvement of all the stakeholders and disseminated to the users for the proper management and utilization of the resources. This reduces conflicts and misunderstandings on common/shared and transboundary resources.

For further information please download “workshop programme & list of participants” and “workshop report”.