Some lessons learnt

Networks work!

As far as the aspect of knowledge sharing is concerned, the more than 10 years of experience of the CWG fully confirms the basic assumption behind any network, which is that by sharing their knowledge and resources, the members can achieve much more than just the sum of their own individual efforts. Many synergies can be developed, duplication of efforts avoided, knowledge gaps filled, and time and money resources saved to the benefit of the member’s work.

Flexibility as basis for continuity

The CWG evolved through quite different phases, from its inception as an initiative for ESA coordination, then to a common effort with an increasingly broader base of more diverse members, to today’s informal network with a minimum structure. While the main actors and driving forces changed over the lifetime of the CWG, the common thematic interest in achieving substantial improvements in SWM in the developing world has consistently been strong enough to motivate members again and again to maintain the network alive and push its agenda forward.

A network’s structural weakness can be a strength

It may come as a surprise to learn that most members value the high degree of informality of the network - at the same time a result of and the reason for the lack continuous funding - as one of the major factors of its success. It must be said, though, that the CWG would probably have ceased to exist without a critical minimum core of committed members who, funded by their organizations, again and again found ways to aggregate their energies to push forward plans for workshops, publications and networking.

A good network is driven by real demand

The CWG is a good example of how, in a vital network, ownership can shift between member groups over the time. As more stakeholders are included, their degree of commitment defines the direction the network takes. In this way, the CWG went through various phases. Started eight years ago as an ESA initiative, it can be anticipated today that the "drivers" of the network will, in the years to come, be located more and more in the "low- and middle-income countries".

The strongest moments in a network are when joint actions are undertaken

There is no doubt that knowledge exchange and the generation of new ideas were most intensive where members engaged in practical, concrete projects, such as the organization of the international workshops or the creation of new knowledge tools.

Personal relationships are essential

The CWG has organized a series of international workshops for which the preparation, participation and follow-up have been of a very high degree of quality. While the value of these workshops can be questioned because of the high costs involved - in spite of efforts to cut out the frills and economise wherever possible, it is evident that the opportunities for direct interpersonal linkages they provided constitute the "crystallization points" of the whole network activity. Every single initiative, every single deliverable of the CWG can be tracked back to one of the workshops. It is difficult to imagine that a similar sense of joint enterprise, consistent over the time, could have been created without these instances of personal interaction.