Practices of Cross Cultural Collaboration in Sustainable Water Management in Bangladesh

Abstract

Water management is a serious issue concerning the well being of numerous people. Usually people expect their government to take care of water resources management. Governmental organizations however focus on large scale problems and on the main infrastructure of their country. They also suffer from financial constraints and bureaucratic procedures resulting in little attention for local water problems. The last 10 years, initiatives were organized to develop a people oriented approach to local water management. This article shows an initiative developed in Bangladesh with support of The Netherlands. It presents an interesting case of cross cultural collaboration regarding local sustainable water management and through that of improvement of living conditions of Bangladeshi people. “What is characteristic for the concerned strategy and change processes and for this type of cross cultural cooperation” is our central question. First we present a theoretical exploration. Next, the case study shows a pilot project for the introduction of participatory water management in Southern Bangladesh. Cross cultural collaboration is illustrated by the concept of participatory water management, blending Bangladesh National Water Policy with Dutch ideas and experiences. The findings show characteristics of cross cultural collaboration in relation to strategizing and changing to introduce participatory water management.