The third Stakeholder and Institutional learning Group (SIG) meeting in Zuid-Holland again yielded an interesting discussion. The meeting was linked to the progress made in SWARE and the organization of the three Knowledge Exchange Sessions (KES), and gave attention to other topics important to the goals of the project: the “samenwerkingskaart” was presented and a lockmaster was invited to tell about his in-the-field experiences.
Manita Koop gave the members of the SIG a short recap on the Thematic Working Group meeting in Ireland in March, before continuing on the organization of the upcoming knowledge exchange sessions. Bas Leurs, then, introduced the outline of the programme of the KES in Zuid-Holland, next October, on which the SIG-members shared some of their ideas.
Following the presentation of the province of Noord-Holland, during the 2nd SIG meeting in December of last year, Jeroen Delmeire presented the first stage of the so-called “samenwerkingskaart”. The province of Zuid-Holland has initiated the development of a map with water ambitions/chances in close cooperation with regional partners in Zuid-Holland. Taking stakeholder involvement to the next level, Jeroen Delmeire says “the map will entail no vision imposed from above, but is about creating a community of stakeholders.” The initiative was welcomed by the members of the SIG.
In earlier meetings of the SIG, Erik Pool, director participation at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, suggested to hear anecdotes of people involved in the everyday practice, to have a clear story as a background for complex problems. For this reason, lockmaster and coordinator of the control centre in Leidschendam, Jaap Huisman, was asked to tell about his experiences. This different point of view was very much welcomed by the SIG members and stimulated the demand for more of such stories to be told and shared.
The next steps in the SWARE project will be the three Knowledge Exchange Sessions in Tipperary, Ireland (22-24 May), Metropolitan Region of Milan, Italy (12-14 September) and the Province of Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands (9-11 October).
Project SWARE is implemented with the support of European Regional Development fund and Interreg Europe Programme 2014-2020. This publication reflects the author’s views only and the Interreg Europe programme authorities are not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
