Oral Presentation NCGRT/IAH Australasian Groundwater Conference 2019

The role of communications in building collaborative inquiry: Reflections from a complex groundwater project.  (219)

Kanza Javad 1 , Michael Mitchell 2 , Catherine A. Allan 2 , Jehangir F. Punthakey 3
  1. Ecoseal Pty Ltd, Islamabad, Pakistan
  2. Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia
  3. Ecoseal Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW, Australia

NOTE: This abstract is part of a series of five connected presentations related to the ACIAR LWR-2015-036 project

In an uncertain environment, collaboration between organisations can increase opportunities for learning. This was our experience in our large and complex research for development project to improve groundwater management in Pakistan. We present key insights gained from building communication across twelve partner organisations, including both researcher and intended research user organisations, whose locations were spread across three provinces in Pakistan. 

An approach of co-inquiry was adopted throughout the project. This spanned across the disciplines of social, economic and hydrological sciences, and included academic and implementation partners. Partners were involved from the outset, including in project proposal design. Key inception activities were to validate the research design, have specific individuals across organisations commit to taking on tasks and responsibilities, and an analysis to guide interactions with other stakeholders.

The need to bring professionals from different types of organisations and disciplines together with other stakeholders presented logistic and cultural challenges. For example, arranging times and locations for meetings between academic and implementation partners was a major challenge given differences in organisational cultures. Equity also had to be considered, resulting in a decision to rotate meeting locations between project provinces. When meeting with farming families, different communication strategies were required to guarantee women’s input, as, given that local cultural norms dictate women are often not permitted to meet and discuss with men. More examples and details will be provided as part of the presentation.

Focusing attention on enhancing communications led to a positive incidental outcome, with enhanced collaboration capacity among our research user partners. These irrigation departments in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh have seen their staff collaborate with researchers to develop groundwater models, and are also observing how to deliver a collaborative approach to irrigation management with farming families in our project’s case study areas.