Project Research Components

The main goal of this sub-unit is to assess the current and future capacity of water governance (and related) institutions to reduce the vulnerability of rural communities and households in the SSRB and the ERB. Research activities in this unit have been planned as a continuation of the community vulnerability assessment. Thus, activities during the first 30 months have been focused mainly on the development of a conceptual framework, the establishment of initial links with organizations, and the gathering of information about governance institutions. The project activities have been carried out by H. Diaz (coordinator), D. Corkal, D. Gauthier, H. Morales, A. Rojas, B. Reyes, and S. Salas. The activities identified in the Milestone Report for the first 30 months are:

1. Development of working papers: A paper, produced by H. Diaz, A. Rojas and with the support of H. Morales, discusses the conceptual and methodological frameworks of the project, focusing on the definition of "institution" and "institutional adaptive capacity," and their operationalization (see Diaz, Rojas, Richer, and Jeanes, 2005). A second version of the paper was developed in the second half of 2005 and presented to partners for feedback purposes in March 2006 (see Diaz and Rojas, 2006). Other papers produced in this project are: (a) a review of the literature on the concept of successful adaptation, produced by Rojas and Richer; (b) a paper on health and climate change, "Climate and Health: Some General Observations for the IACC Project," by G. Marchildon; and (c) a paper on "Value and Ethical Analysis in Vulnerability to Climate Change: Establishing an Analytic Framework for Identifying, Classifying and Evaluating Vulnerability Issues" by B. Morito.



2. Selection of institutions: The project has established solid contacts with a large number of organizations in Canada and Chile. In Canada Corkal, Diaz and Gauthier visited several institutions in Alberta and Saskatchewan to explain the project and to establish initial links. In Chile similar encounters took place with national and regional organizations. In addition, information about the main public and civil society organizations that participate in the governance of water resources has been gathered in both countries: (a) a working paper produced by Corkal, Inch, and Adkins (see Corkal, Inch, and Adkins, 2006) documents the case of the water governance institutions in the SSRB, and two papers prepared by Margot Hurlbert discuss the legal structures in Canada (Hurlbert 2006a, 2006b); and (b) four papers focused on specific ERB governance organizations, produced by H. Morales and R. Espinoza (see Morales and Espinoza 2004, 2005a, Espinoza and Morales 2004, 2005) describe the main Chilean institutions and their functions. We continue the gathering of information about governance of water resources in both basins with the purpose of establishing a database of institutions and a model of the architecture of governance by December 2006. In the process of developing this model a "sampling frame" will be developed for the final selection of the organizations to be evaluated.



3. Preparation of instruments: A workshop was organized in Regina in March 2006 to foster the discussion of the methodological approach to the assessment of the governance institutions. The workshop was attended by PFRA representatives and several of the Canadian researchers. The workshop was focused on the dimensions of the assessment; sampling procedures; and instruments and protocols for the collection of information. A similar workshop is being planned for Chile in the next few months. The results of this workshop are being used for the development of the instruments and the preparation of protocols to be used during the assessment of the governance institutions.



4. Institutional interviews: The proper assessment of the governance institutions will take place during the period February-September 2007. It includes the stage of data collection (February-June 2007) and preparation of specific reports (July-September 2007)



5. Data analysis and interpretation, reports: The analysis and merging of data and preparation of the final report will take place in the second half of 2007.



6. Final reports:
• Saskatchewan Water Governance Assessment Final Report
• Chile Water Governance Assessment Final Report

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