Participatory research and capacity building of institutions in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Report)

This paper summarises the events of a workshop on institutional collaboration in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The workshop was held in Pakistan in March 2009, and discussed the participatory research in livelihoods that two Norwegian organisations conducted in Afghanistan. The paper states that this work has great potential for contributing further toward capacity and institution building in Afghanistan in several rural development sectors, including water and sanitation (WATSAN).

The following objectives of the workshop were presented:

• listening to what organisations are doing in WATSAN, and what main challenges they are facing in terms of sustainability
• sharing the emerging interdisciplinary applied research and capacity building programmes in sustainable sanitation
• discussing how this work could be better focused to address the needs and challenges faced by those working in WATSAN in rural communities
• developing concrete institutional linkages and capacity building activities which will improve the ability of local institutions to actively engage in the development of innovative WATSAN approaches and technologies.

In addition, the paper lists some of the relevant activities that came up in the discussion about "what is working" and "what is new". The paper notes that there were a lot of good ideas and activities at the micro level, however they tend to be isolated, and with no real opportunity for the organisations to share experiences and learn from each other.

Additionally, the paper addresses these two questions:

• what are the key elements of a good approach and why?
• what are the most critical challenges you face?

The paper concludes that a lot of work needs to be done to critically examine existing approaches and how they can be improved through working much more closely with local communities. In this context, the paper suggests networking and conducting applied research as proper means.