Goals

SWITCH involved innovation in the area of sustainable urban water management often also referred to as integrated urban water management (IUWM). This ambitious project looked towards water management in the 'city of the future' aimed to challenge existing paradigms and to find and promote more sustainable alternatives to the conventional ways of managing urban water. SWITCH also set out to do things differently by carrying out action-orientated research in cities that was demand-led on needs.

Details of current status

Project is completed.

Details of project plan

The idea of Learning Alliances emerged in response to the widespread failure of much conventional research to have significant impact. It was also in response to recognition that new products and processes are brought into use, not just by the activities of researchers, but through the activities of a number of widely different actors and organizations. This group of interconnected players typically includes public sector (e.g. line ministries, utilities, regulators, educators, research institutes), private sector (e.g. industry, financial services), and civil society players (e.g. NGOs, media, professional bodies and unions, advocacy organizations).

The activities and interactions within such groups, and the rules governing them, which together give rise to the development and diffusion of technologies, are referred to as an innovation system (i.e. the system-wide framework that facilitates – or inhibits – the scaling up of innovation). A learning alliance is a grouping of constituent organisations from a given system, which seeks to take relevant innovation to scale. The more representative the alliance is, the better it will capture the organisational complexities that constitute the realities of the innovation system. SWITCH aims to foster such alliances to facilitate integration and the scaling-up of innovation in urban water management.
In each of the demonstration cities a Learning Alliance has been established. Information specific to the cities and demonstrations is contained in the Cities and Demonstrations sections of the website; the Learning Alliances section contains general information about and guidance for Learning Alliances.

Follow the External links below to find out more:

Impact

SWITCH lessons relevant and useful for Senegal

“The different ongoing experiences in various countries under the umbrella of SWITCH programmes are relevant and I followed the presentations with a high interest”, Cheikh Tidiane Fall, Senegal wrote in the third Conference Daily of the ''Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change'' conference in Zaragoza, Spain, 13-17 December 2010. http://www.irc.nl/page/61571.

“The Nobel Prize for SWITCH is in the learning alliance process.”

‘SWITCH was not selected for the science, but for the learning alliances. We need to move beyond failures […] I don’t expect Nobel Prizes from the science. The Nobel Prize for SWITCH is in the learning alliance process,’ Zissimos Vergos, Project officer, EC Commission DG Research.
http://www.reporting.irc.nl/page/35862

Lessons learned

The book 'SWITCH in the City: putting urban water management to the test' edited by John Butterworth, Peter McIntyre and Carmen da Silva Wells and published by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre on behalf of the SWITCH consortium will be launched online on 12 October 2011. We would like to invite you to join us for the online launch from 1200-1700 Central European Time.

The launch provides an opportunity for you to 'chat' with the editors and give your comments on the book. It is also an opportunity to 'win' a free hard copy of the book: for the 20 best contributions to the launch event.

To join the online platform click here, paste this text in your browser or email to your colleagues http://meetingwords.com/QOv3kD1nfm

From 3 October, you will be able to download the book here.

Hard copies of the book can be ordered by writing to publications@irc.nl

Technologies used

Other specific roles of IRC included:action research on environmental sanitation, urban agriculture, governance, social inclusion, cost recovery and financing mechanisms, and dissemination activities.