holding the ring in regional water management

Holding the Ring in Regional Water Management - IOR2011RegionalWater.ppt

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HOLDING THE RING IN REGIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT

John Friend IOR (emeritus), South Yorkshire, UK

ISSS 55, University of HullJuly 2011

SIG on Systemic Approaches to Conflict and Crises chaired by Dennis Finlayson


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John Friend Introduction – theory & practiceTwo regional contexts – Venezuela 2000

New Zealand 2009Facilitating the Venezuelan workshopFacilitating the New Zealand workshopContrasts between the experiencesReflections on learning points

Relevance to interests of this SIG/ISSS - discussion


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Introduction – theoryA decision-centred approach to planning pioneered

in IOR within the Tavistock Institute– especially useful for working across boundaries.• known as the “Strategic Choice Approach” Introduction – practiceMany varied applications over 4 decades: • usually, group workshops using paper on walls • can be complemented by informal small group

sessions using electronic recording aids


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THE VENEZUELAN STORY – A TIME LINE

Aug 1997 Profs. Jorge Giordani & Elisenda Vila at Lincoln launchDec 1998 Hugo Chávez elected President of Venezuela

Giordani appointed Minister of Planning and DevelopmentOct 1999 Rosenhead & Friend invited to advise on regional choicesDec 1999 Catastrophic landslides following exceptional rainsJan 2000 Rosenhead’s first visit – focusing on choices for Vargas stateMar 2000 Friend’s first visit including strategic choice workshopApr 2000 Joint visit of JF with JR; further workshop on Vargas futuresApr 2001 Further joint visit including workshop with a new focusApr 2002 Chávez returns to office after a 48 hour coupMar 2005 JR/JF visit after Giordani reappointed – translations launchedMay 2005 Ana Maria, Elisenda report on community & policy workshops

in UK at first meeting of OR Society Problem Structuring Group

Dec 2006 JR & JF invited to opening of National Planning School2007-2011 Further Rosenhead visits – focus shifts to electricity supply


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TIMELINE OF MY FIRST CARACAS VISIT, 19-26 MARCH 2000

Sunday late evening arrival in CaracasMonday briefing by Minister Giordani

witness to negotiation with another Minister on financial compensation for residents to be announced by President on TV that evening

Tuesday Escorted tour of stricken coastal communities – on same day as Presidential visit Workshop invitations sent out by Vice Minister

Wednesday First workshop session in early eveningThursday Morning summons to meet chief project engineer

Second workshop session in early evening Friday Debriefing sessionsSaturday Escorted visit to historic city centre before flight

back to UK


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22 MARCH WORKSHOP – DRAMATIS PERSONAETopic: reconstruction choices for Vargas State – in a crisis situation not predicted at time of my invitationTime frame: 1700 to 2000 hours Location: MPD offices

Project sponsor: Vice-Minister Gustavo Buenaño for MPD

Project agents: John Friend – lead facilitator(facilitation team) Jose Madrid – MPD strategy unit

John Foley – UCVAna Maria Benaiges – UCV - recorderTranslator: uncertainty about role?

Project hosts: emergency teams, project engineers, planning consultants, civil defence

(20 invited ministries of planning, environment, Participants) military, cartography & other experts


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22 MARCH WORKSHOP – FINDING A FOCUS

8 decision areas from January workshop + 2 added after my local visit

+ 7 more added in workshop. Intense debate over reformulations.

Stickers issued to participants – 5 each – for judging priorities

Topic of heated debate: are choices still open in upper valleys?


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22 MARCH WORKSHOP –ALTERNATIVES EXPLORED IN GROUPS

Five important areas of choice were agreed for exploration of options in groups. In each group, balance sheet of advantages of A vs B used to elicit key areas of uncertainty to be probed further.


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23 MARCH – MORNING VISIT TO CHIEF ENGINEER’S OFFICE

Purpose: to persuade facilitators – JM and JF – that all options for change to scheduled river projects were already closed.

23 MARCH – RESUMPTION OF WORKSHOP

Slightly reduced group of participants, with some additions – but chief project engineer absent

Proposed process for this session:

Adjustments to foci and groups to finalise (draft) proposals for action & exploration then merge into a specimen progress package


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REFLECTIONS ON 22/23 MARCH WORKSHOP

• brief glimpse of challenges & conflicts at a particular moment in a complex, evolving and politically charged drama precipitated by catastrophic flooding of communities living in steep parallel valleys

• composition of group: bias towards expert advisers rather than policy makers – later corrected through follow-on workshop with senior managers in April, but level of engagement now less intensive

• effects of working across languages - both positive and negative. Value of some Spanish terms e.g. paquete de compromisos

• value of a running record compiled on a laptop by Ana Maria of the facilitation team, complementing the group’s photo-record


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THE NEW ZEALAND STORY – A TIME LINE

1990’s Droughts exacerbate mounting conflicts among users of river water in Canterbury region of South Island

2002-8 Environment Canterbury commissions Canterbury Regional Water Strategy (CRWS) phases 1, 2, 3; a large volume of data generated. Also a large volume of opinion through use of “Open strategy” approach.

2009 Jan CEO of ECan discusses with Gerald Midgley at ESR ways of reducing complexity for a key meeting of his Steering Group planned for 22-23 February. CEO expresses interest in use of Strategic Choice Approach.

2009 Feb JKF visit to work with ECan team in planning and co-facilitating a 2-day strategy workshop

2009 Sep Target for publishing draft strategy after wide public consultation on strategic alternatives endorsed by steering group at our workshop


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REFLECTIONS ON 23/24 FEBRUARY WORKSHOP

• a brief yet pivotal event in a long-running programme in which an unwieldy amount of information had been generated through both technical investigations and political consultations

• the steering group members represented sharply opposing interests - yet had already spent much time listening to and recognising the interests of the others

• prior formulation of policy areas and tentative strategic directions by the CWMS management team had anticipated the workshop approach, and thus provided a valuable initial focus

• language difficulties were minimal – limited to occasional misunderstandings through differences in vowel pronunciation

• sensitivity to the need to accept Maori framework of Tangata Whenua as a parallel holistic frame of evaluation, rather than view it as reflecting the interests of one indigenous stakeholder group


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INTERPRETING INTO A PROGRAMME FOR CONSULTATION


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THE FOUR SELECTED STRATEGIC OPTIONS

A. “Continue to improve the current approach”

B. “Advance environmental protection before developing significant infrastructure”

C. “Reconfigure consents and infrastructure for protection and repair of the environment, improved reliability of supply and for

development”

D. “Advance infrastructure with strong requirements for environmental repair and protection”


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A RETROSPECTIVE JUDGEMENT

“The shift we made from Open strategy to Strategic choice was pivotal in the success of the development of the CWMS. This was initially based on the recommendations from your book and then our discussions and finally on the engagement with John. I think that NZ is about to rediscover strategy development and there are very few people in the country who think in those terms.”

CEO Environment Canterbury in an email to Gerald Midgley on his leaving NZ


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WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS?

Immediate: selected pages emailed to NZ from an IOR report of 1976 on working upwards and downwards between levels in UK structure plans

2009 Sep: draft strategy published after wide consultations2010 Apr: Elected members of ECan replaced by

six commissioners after period of political turmoil 2010 Sep: Severe earthquake strikes not far from Christchurch 2011 Feb: Further severe earthquake causes much loss of life and

destruction of buildings in Christchurch city centre2011 Jun: Series of aftershocks cause further destruction2012: Despite these political and environmental shocks, workshop

recognised as having generated an acceptable framework for future policy development


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Some lessons after comparing experiences • Workshops can help in guiding policy development

across boundaries as well as within organisations• Process-engaged and process-detached workshops

offer different opportunities for facilitation and learning• Effects of brief process interventions in politically

turbulent contexts are difficult (impossible?) to evaluate• Expect unpredictable disturbances – political,

meteorological, seismic – both before and after an intervention

• Nevertheless, diverse experiences are worth mining for lessons of potential future value

• Language difficulties/challenges can offer a rich source of learning

• Any initial learning points can be enriched by exposing them to further reflection and argument.


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Some discussion points • Capturing lessons from diverse experiences –

challenges and benefits?• How to build helpful frameworks for review?• What kind of problem focus – ser or estar?• Linkages between system structure and

problem structure?• Creating academic contexts for action research

and skill development – the IOR legacy and others?

holding the ring in regional water management

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