Governance systems for IWRM require integrated approaches to social, economic, and environmental aspects, as well as appropriate modalities for stakeholders participation.
In this context, efficient participation of different actors in managing water resources has been defined as one of the sustainable water management principles.
This concept promotes “Social Equity” which is one of the fundamental topics of IWRM. It aims to bring relevant stakeholders into contact with each other’s to discuss and generate equitable and sustainable solutions to water problems and promote “bottom – up” decision making process.
Indeed,stakeholder engagement and participatory approaches for water diplomacy are increasingly used for developing trust, consensus, communication and stimulate water reform process.
This is particularly important to address future water challenges and improve water security. The effectiveness of stakeholder engagement in water resources management depends on a number of factors including the method employed, inclusiveness of the engagement process, local knowledge and time made available for the stakeholder dialogue to develop.
The SMART IWRM Medjerda planned three engagement processes that occurred at three different geographic and governance scales (local, regional, and national).
The common point between the different categories is concertation throughout the process of establishing project activities so that they adopt it with full conviction. This will allow the continuation of the studies after the end of the project and this will facilitate the integration of the results of the project in the groundwater management strategies in the study region.
