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The Royal visit to South Africa: a personal account

Zamafuze (Zama) Ngcobo is a Young Expert Professional (YEP) of the Blue Deal partnership in South Africa, with a background as a geohydrologist. As a Yepper she mainly does project management. And on October 18, she got to show the Dutch king and queen around in her project in Blesbokspuit. Zama: “I never thought I would do something like this.”

Zama (right) together with the king (left)

When did you hear about the royal visit?

“At first I was told there was going to be a high-level visit. I didn’t know who it was going to be. And then in August I heard I would be showing the king and queen around.”

“It was very nerve-wracking. There was so much preparation that went into it. Everybody stressed the importance of this visit.” She laughs: “And then they told me to relax…”

“It really took a full two months of getting everything as perfect as possible, and the whole event itself was only 45 minutes. But we could really see the importance of making a good impression. If your project gains the attention of important people, it really helps to get people into action, rejuvenate the project, get things done.”

> Read more about what was shown during the visit

What were the king and queen like?

“During the preparation for the visit, I asked for a briefing about how to act around the king and queen. Do I shake hands, do I curtsy? With the Dutch king and queen it turned out to be just a simple handshake. And they were quite friendly, all smiles.”

“I thought it would be more of a presentation with me doing most of the talking, but they jumped right in, asking questions. The king especially, with his background in water management, asked some really hard questions. But I was happy with this, it showed their engagement. I started to relax, because it really turned into a conversation. They asked about what we were struggling with and how we worked around it. And we spoke about different sorts of solutions, the effects of the mining in the area, and if we would be able to completely remove the water hyacinth.”

> Read more about the project

Were you happy with the results of the visit?

“Sometimes with a project, you need to get assistance from the top. High-level events like this put a spotlight on the project and really help to get attention from the right people. Now, things are already set in motion thanks to this visit. It also really helped that the South African Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mr Edward Senzo Mchunu, and the Mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni, Mr. Sivuyile Ngodwana, were present during the visit. The Minister really helped to push things forward for the future. There have already been many plans and meetings since the visit.”

“I would really recommend the project managers of other Blue Deal partnerships to see if there are any possibilities for high level visits. If you hear that a Minister or somebody else is visiting the area that you are working in, try to get them to visit your project. Not only does it help to move the project further, but it is also important for acknowledgement. Our work is really difficult and it can be so tiring, so it is nice to get the recognition from high level people.”

“I am really happy we got the message across and my colleagues were pleased with how I represented the project. It was a bit of a blur in the moment, but afterwards I realised: wow, I really did do that.”

Dutch King and Queen visit Blue Deal South Africa

His Majesty the King of the Netherlands and Her Majesty Queen Máxima were proudly received at the Blesbokspruit wetland in South Africa on October 18, in the presence of South African Minister Mchunu (water and sanitation). The visit to this Blue Deal project is the first part of their 3-day state visit to South Africa.

The wetland suffers from poor water quality, caused by the water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic plant. The King and Queen are enthusiastic about the creative solutions that South African and Dutch water authorities are jointly investigating to combat water hyacinth. This is done in the context of the Blue Deal, the international programme of Dutch Water Authorities and the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Infrastructure and Water Management.

Fleas combat the water hyacinth

During the tour, the royal couple saw how the water hyacinth is removed. This is not only done by hand and with machines. Researchers are experimenting here with biological control. Natural enemies of the water hyacinth play the leading role: fleas from South America. King Willem-Alexander visited the greenhouse where the fleas are grown. And watched as these were deployed on the water hyacinth.

Entrepreneurs use water hyacinth a raw material

In the meantime, Queen Máxima spoke with a local entrepreneur, who uses the dried water hyacinth to weave baskets and other useful products and sell them. The woman also trains others in weaving and entrepreneurship. This initiative really appealed to the Queen. Also, water hyacinth is not only used for weaving products. Applications on a larger scale also seem promising, for example as a raw material for briquettes or geotextiles.

Young water professionals and students help out

There is still a lot to discover and learn within the Blesbokspruit project. The Blue Deal makes grateful use of the innovative ideas of students with a passion for water from the international Wetskills programme. These students come from all over the world. Their goal: finding innovative solutions to water management challenges in a changing world. In Blesbokspruit, a Wetskills participant presented her ideas to the King.

Challenges to learn from, experiences to share

Sharing knowledge and experiences with each other is what the water authorities do in the Blue Deal programme. The Blesbokspruit project is a good example of this. This is not just about solving an isolated problem. Water managers pool their expertise and share the results, also with other regions with similar problems. The Blue Deal programme has partnerships in 15 countries. The goal: improve access to clean, sufficient and safe water for 20 million people worldwide.

Two-way street

By exchanging knowledge, the Dutch water authorities also learn a lot from partnerships with other countries. For example, just like South Africa, the Netherlands has to deal with invasive exotic species. In addition, the water authorities can learn a lot about drought, with which South Africa already has a lot of experience.

> Read an interview with Zama, who showed the King and Queen around

> Read more about the Blue Deal partnership in South Africa

Management 4 largest Blue Deal partnerships exchanges knowledge

On September 7, the Dutch management of the 4 largest Blue Deal partnerships came together in the Dutch province Fryslân for a meeting. The objective for this gathering was: how can we learn from each other about managing large partnerships?

The meeting was amongst the partnerships of Mozambique, Colombia, Eswatini and South Africa. The managers were invited to Friesland, at the invitation of the partnership manager of Mozambique, of which Wetterskip Fryslân (the Dutch water authority in the area of Fryslân) is the lead partner. This was the third time that the major partnerships organized such a consultation. This time was extra special, thanks to a boat trip through the beautiful Alde Feanen nature reserve.

Topics to discuss

The colleagues exchanged, for example, their experiences with working with a so-called ‘talking sheet’. This sheets makes it visible which Blue Deal topics the partnership is working on, and where there are topics that still need to be addressed. “It helps to establish a relationship of the concrete activities which are implemented with the longer-term goals,” says one of the participants. “Large partnerships deal with many people and interests. Visualising this helps to get an overview of how all our activities contribute to our larger goals, and what we should continue or stop.”

The participants also discussed, among other things, their annual plans for 2024, presented to each other how they have organised their partnerships and discussed decentralization in one of the partner countries. They also covered the safety assessments of work visits, finances, accountability, and much more.

Learning from each other

An important part of the Blue Deal is learning from each other. Therefore, the Blue Deal learning programme also includes a training for new partnership managers. Thanks to this joint intervision of the partnership managers, the 4 largest partnerships are now going one step further to exchange knowledge with each other.

Blue Deal YEP Week in Nairobi

From August 27 to September 4, a Young Expert (YEP) training took place in Nairobi for the entire Blue Deal YEP group. Monique Zwiers, learning officer at the Blue Deal Programme Office, joined the group.

The training in Nairobi was part of the learning programme of the YEP group that was established specifically for the Blue Deal. Last year in September, a training also took place in Leidschenveen, the Netherlands, at the start of the YEP program. The Yeppers are now halfway through their two-year programme. Zwiers: “They can put the lessons learned during this training week into practice in the coming year.”

During the week, attention was paid to various training sessions during the first 3 days. Zwiers: “The training courses are not so much about water themes, but are often focused on personal development. In this way, the Yeppers become increasingly aware of their own position within their organization and how they can influence their team.”

Exchanging knowledge with each other

On Thursday there was an excursion to the Thika Basin dam, where they received an explanation about water management in the area, which serves as a water extraction area for Nairobi’s drinking water. Furthermore, a tree nursery was visited in the area where trees are grown to protect the banks of the Thika basin.

Zwiers: “During such an excursion you see that the YEP people ask all kinds of substantive questions and also discuss substantive themes with each other. With that idea in mind, we also started a Blue Deal ‘tailor-made’ YEP group. So that if we bring them together, they can really learn from each other substantively and thus strengthen the knowledge within the Blue Deal programme and spread it within their own partnership. With YEP we want to train young people and thus grow a group of good professionals within the partnership.”

Training ‘Train the trainer’

On Friday, the Yeppers received a ‘Train the trainer’ training, so that they can also provide training themselves. Zwiers: “They were very enthusiastic about that. Now we hope that the group will connect with existing Blue Deal initiatives, such as the Communities of Practice, where we share knowledge on a number of themes.”

Movies

A ‘Make a film with your smartphone’ workshop took place on Saturday. All participants made a video. We highlight a few of these videos in this playlist.

Blue Deal session about Social inclusion in IWRM

On September 12, the Blue Deal presented a session during Partners for Water's Day ‘Social Inclusion in Water Climate Adaptation – making a Transformation’ in Utrecht.

“We need to bend the beam of observation upon ourselves”, says Martin Kalungu-Banda of the Ubuntu.Lab institute, one of the speakers during the plenary programme. Are we always doing as well as we think we do or should we sometimes look at ourselves more critically? The room is full of people from the water sector, from NGOs and organizations such as the Blue Deal. All with the beautiful intention of supporting others worldwide. But this requires that we work on the right things and especially with the people involved. “We’re trying to help, but we forget to listen,” notes one of the participants of the day.

Within the Blue Deal we try to do this through stakeholder participation. During the session ‘Working bottom up in Integrated Water Resources Management: how to implement an Area Oriented Approach to maximize sustainability and inclusiveness’, about 20 people from different organizations were present and 3 examples from the Blue Deal were discussed.

Communities map top 10 issues

Priscilla Daddah, Young Expert for the Blue Deal partnership in Ghana, explains during the session how the partnership involved stakeholders by working with 3 communities to map the top 10 issues for the Lower Volta Songor region. They also jointly drew up a Community-based Resource Management Plan (CREMA).

Using traditional tribal hierarchy

Bertho Bulthuis, water expert from the Blue Deal partnership in Burkina Faso, explains how they use the traditional tribal hierarchy within his partnership. “This is an already existing structure, able to connect people in the communities.” Of course, there are also disadvantages to this, Bulthuis admits. Because these structures do not represent everyone either. Another challenge he mentions is that many people in the area cannot always focus on anything else besides their daily needs. “It’s not always easy to look towards the future to things like climate mitigation and adaptation, when you are struggling for daily needs, like food for the day.”

Future base camp

Tanah Meijers, from the Blue Deal partnership in Kenya, talks about the ‘Bring Njururi back to the river’ project. This project is about restoring the water beetle (Njururi) to the Thika river in Upper Tana, Kenya. The water beetle symbolizes good water quality and a healthy ecosystem.

Stakeholder participation also plays a major role in this project. For this purpose, the team organized a so-called future base camp. About 120 people from various social groups and organizations in the area came together for a few days of camping. Together they thought about how they would like to shape the future in their region and how they could achieve this. Meijers: “We were looking for common ground, because everybody is part of the solution. Together, we drew a map. What is happening today? What are the challenges we face? And what do we need to do to get the water beetle back?”

Discussion

After the presentations of the case studies, participants of the Blue Deal session discussed in 3 groups about how to scale an inclusive sustainable bottom-up approach on IWRM: how to implement a jointly drafted sub-catchment plan and maximise sustainability and inclusiveness? Below some of the discussion outcomes:

  • Formalisation of the effort of local organisations is necessary (mandate/ status);
  • Make use of current systems of formalised governments;
  • As soon as you scale up, the balance between bottom-up and top-down can get lost, it is a battle to fight for the rights in a bottom-up approach. Be aware of these issues;
  • There will be a political battle/competition about livelihood needs and less on water needs when you scale up. Be aware of these aspects;
  • Choose your local champions to scale your approach;
  • Keep reflecting: is everyone really included?
  • Clear benefits and responsibilities are necessary to get everyone on board;
  • Realisation of the needs: analyse the needs in an area thoroughly;
  • These processes take time. Spend time on raising awareness in your project

Get in touch

Want to know more about the outcomes of these 3 cases? Reach out to info@bluedeal.nl to get in touch with one of the speakers.

Blue Deal at World Water Week in Stockholm

From 20 to 24 August, Luzette Kroon and Emilie Sturm represented the Blue Deal during the World Water Week in Stockholm. There they participated in sessions and talked with, among others, the Islamic Development Bank about investment plans. The week was devoted to the follow-up of the UN Water Conference in New York.

Emilie Sturm (right) at the Wavemakers panel, together with Henk Ovink (left) and Meike van Ginneken (next to Henk Ovink)

Kroon is a board member of the Association of Dutch Water Authorities and responsible for the international portfolio. She is also president of the Blue Deal. Sturm is programme manager of the Blue Deal. The Blue Deal is the joint international programme of the 21 Dutch water authorities.

Why did you participate in World Water Week?

Sturm: “The week in Stockholm was all about the follow-up to the Water Action Agenda that was adopted during the UN Water Conference. What is the status of the commitments that were made? In the run-up to the UN Water Conference, we as Blue Deal were the first to make a commitment to the Action Agenda, namely doubling the money and commitment to the Blue Deal.”

“So we were also in Stockholm to show what we have done in the past 8 months since our commitment. Luzette Kroon talked about this in a panel during the session ‘UN 2023 Water Conference: From voluntary commitments to impact’. She explained, among other things, how we have focused even more on learning from each other within the Blue Deal. As partner countries among each other, but also how the Netherlands can learn from our partner countries. We facilitated this learning, for example, by organising a major Blue Deal Congress in Amsterdam in June. 14 partner countries were present. We have also focused more on learning from each other via Communities of Practice on various themes.”

In New York, the Blue Deal wanted to draw attention to the importance of investments in operations and maintenance. Did you also pay attention to that in Stockholm?

Sturm: “We organised a first session about this in New York to discuss this with financiers. This led, among other things, to an exploration with the Islamic Development Bank. We have now reached the point where we intend to cooperate, in which the Islamic Development Bank wants to invest in a pilot in 2 of our partner countries: Burkina Faso and the Palestinian Territories. We discussed this further one-on-one in Stockholm.”

Did you have any other goals in Stockholm?

Sturm: “We met the new Dutch water envoy, Meike van Ginneken. She is the successor of Henk Ovink. I participated in the Wavemakers panel. This was about how you can give young people a bigger role in solving water problems. Van Ginneken then announced the Gamechangers Challenge, which will be launched next year during the Olympic Games in Paris. This will be a challenge that in which young people are asked to come up with solutions for problems on important water themes. I have promised that we will make a prize available, whereby the winner can do a feasibility study to see whether we can really apply the solution in the practice of one of our partnerships.”

How do you look back at the World Water Week?

“Personally, I’m not really a fan of congresses at all, but I noticed that it really helps our programme further. This congress creates momentum for the water sector to follow up on the agreements made during the UN congress.”

“And I was very inspired. Especially from what we can learn from indigenous peoples, which was discussed in a number of sessions. As water authorities, we have been working on nature-based solutions for a long time, also within the Blue Deal. Indigenous people know much more about this than we do, their way of life is to live with nature. Yet they are often overlooked in water management, even though they may hold the key to success.”

Blue Deal now official part of Dutch-Indonesian cooperation

In July, a Blue Deal team visited Indonesia. Toon van der Klugt, head ('dijkgraaf') of the Dutch water authority of Schieland and Krimpenerwaard, was there and signed the cooperation agreement for the Blue Deal Indonesia together with the Dutch embassy. This makes the Blue Deal an official part of the Dutch-Indonesian cooperation in the field of water.

The delegation visited various places on the island of Java. Van der Klugt went to the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta. There he sensed the enthusiasm of the diplomatic staff and the Dutch Delegated Representative for bilateral cooperation in the field of water. At the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) in Jakarta, he signed the cooperation agreement for the Blue Deal Indonesia, together with the deputy Dutch ambassador and the secretary-general of the Ministry. This makes the Blue Deal an official part of the Dutch-Indonesian cooperation in the field of water.

In addition, Van der Klugt and the Blue Deal team visited the locations of the 3 projects that fall under the Blue Deal: in Tangerang (just west of Jakarta), Pekalongan and Semarang (both in Central Java). The local administrators, employees and members of the project teams from Indonesia and the Netherlands were there. In Semarang, a city with over 1.6 million inhabitants, the mayor received the Dutch delegation so that he could attend the kick-off of the partnership as a special guest.

The project teams are now busy working out the plans. New work visits are planned for November.

NWB Fund supports Blue Deal Congress

The Blue Deal Congress has shown that international cooperation between water managers is useful, necessary and also a lot of fun. The NWB Fund is proud to have contributed to this on behalf of the bank of the Dutch water authorities (Waterschapsbank). 3 lessons learnt stand out.

Marion Wierda from the NWB Fund speaks at the dinner party

Lesson 1: Water management is about money

Water management is about money, because without money you won’t be able to get a lot done. The NWB Fund therefore co-finances projects and activities within (and outside) Blue Deal partnerships aimed at climate adaptation, with a focus on nature-based solutions and inclusiveness. Proposals are welcome.

Lessson 2: Water management is about trust

Water management also requires a different currency: not euros or dollars, but trust. Because good relationships are also a precondition for realizing change. There was a lot of networking during this congress and a party is the ultimate team building activity. The fund has therefore wholeheartedly sponsored the Blue Deal Congress party.

Lesson 3: Water management is about solving issues together

After all, this congress was a historic moment. As water managers, we traditionally mainly look at our own working area, because there is plenty to do there. After 800 years, the Dutch water authorities are now also looking outwards and are seeking international cooperation. Because climate does not respect borders and only together can we solve difficult issues. We are the pioneers of this movement in the Blue Deal. Let’s commit to making this a success.

For more information and questions about the NWB Fund, please contact programme manager Marion Wierda (mwierda@uvw.nl).

Movie: the very first Blue Deal Congress

The first Blue Deal Congress took place from 12 to 14 June. Participants from 14 countries visited Amsterdam and exchanged knowledge about common challenges. “The Dutch model is not a blueprint for the rest of the world.” Watch the video and look back at the congress.

The goal of the Blue Deal congress? Getting to know each other, so that it will be even easier to exchange knowledge in the future. Between the Dutch and the Blue Deal partner countries, but also between the partner countries themselves. One of the participants: “Money is not the only thing to get something done. It’s about people working together to find solutions.”

The days consisted of a plenary programme on Monday, during which Peter Glas, among others, talked about Dutch water management. He did make a comment, however: “The Dutch model is not a blueprint for the rest of the world.” But perhaps the model can serve as an inspiration. On Monday, there was also a session on intercultural cooperation.

On Tuesday, the participants split into smaller groups and were able to follow workshops on Water pricing, Water safety management, Stakeholder participation, Urban waste water management, Nature-based solutions, and Smart monitoring. On Wednesday, the participants saw Dutch water management in practice by visiting the Sand Motor, the Markermeerdijken or the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen. On Thursday and Friday, the partnerships went their separate ways and visited the water authorities they work with. There, too, they saw more of Dutch water management in practice.

> Read about Day 1

> Read about Day 2

> Read about Day 3

Blue Deal Congress Day 3: water management in practice

June 14 was day 3 of the Blue Deal conference, the last day of the joint programme. Time to see Dutch water management in practice. The participants could therefore choose from an excursion to one of these locations: the Markermeerdijken, the Zandmotor or the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen. Looking back on day 3.

Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen (Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes)

“When building cities, people have always been looking for ways to bring in water,” says the guide who gives the tour through the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen. He will first give a presentation on how Dutch water management actually works. Today it is not so much about how governance works – the participants learned more about this on Monday – but about how the Netherlands has been working on flood risk management and sufficient water since its inception. A woman from Kenya laughs and asks: “Are you planning to reclaim even more land or do you think this is enough?”

Water monitoring during the visit to the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen

Questions about water management

The other questions clearly show what the countries themselves are struggling with. For example, the man from Ethiopia who asks how the Netherlands makes agreements with the other countries through which the rivers run. Or the woman from Kenya who asks who determines how deep drilling is allowed to pump up groundwater by farmers, for example, and how that works with regulations and enforcement. And another question from the audience: how do you prevent water pollution?

Drinking water

Although the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen are mainly intended for drinking water, the participants can still learn a lot from them for their work. For example, about purification with natural sources, such as the dunes. Moreover, drinking water and other water management are not always separated from each other abroad.

A visit to the Markermeer Dikes

Markermeer Dikes and Sand Motor

The other groups visit 2 projects related to flood risk management, the Markermeer Dikes and the Sand Motor. They also return enthusiastically from the locations. In Ghana, plans are currently underway to build their own Sand Motor. The entire delegation therefore chooses to participate in this excursion to learn more about the project and to see with their own eyes what such a Sand Motor will look like.

End of the day

In the evening, the participants conclude with a dinner and a performance by Waternet’s house band, in which several international guests eventually play a part. And of course, as befits an international party, there is a lot of dancing.

A visit to the Sand Motor

Visiting

The delegations from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Palestinian territories, Peru, Romania, Vietnam and South Africa will visit one of the 21 partner water authorities during the last 2 days of the congress.

> Read about Day 1

> Read about Day 2