Water

Effective management of fresh water resources is a perennial problem in Pacific island countries, largely due to large-scale tourism and lack of involvement in water conservation from the communities. This PDA demonstrated innovative learning processes to increase community participation toward sustainable water management in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

• Background
• Objectives
• Expected Results
• Report Card
• Reports and Related Documents

• Some Qualitative Results
  1. Increased capacity for target communities to mobilize action towards sustainable river and water environments.
  2. Heightened awareness of environmental problems affecting the river and water environments and the true (social and cultural) causes to these problems.
  3. Increased capacity for young people to participate in decision-making processes for sustainable water development and management.
  4. Increased dialogue between government officials and communities concerning sustainable development and use of the river and water environments.
  5. Assessment of multiplication of benefits to other communities through a Sustainable Training Network similar to the River Care Schools Network by Live & Learn Fiji
  6. Influence curriculum development and training in target areas.


• Some Quantitative Results
  1. Training and education of 8 communities and 16 schools in action-based tools and community mobilization for sustainable development and conservation of river and water environments.
  2. Dissemination of project results, tools and methodology on specially designed website.

• Developed and demonstrated innovative and participatory environmental education methods, such as Participatory Learning Circles (PLC) and Participatory Water Quality Monitoring system
• Produced customer-made Water Test Kits, Participatory Water Quality Monitoring and PLC handbooks, and visual aids
• Encouraged a high level of continued participation in communities, particularly among the youth

The PLC method is now being used in the health sector to convey messages that facilitate action on HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. At the regional level, PLC is being used in Papua New Guinea and Fiji to resolve conflicts over natural resources and promote good community-based governance of resources. It has also been introduced in other ADB supported projects and activities such as the PDA on Developing and Testing Environmental Education and Awareness Methodologies in Cambodia.