Jan 29, 2021

Re-launched and updated online course: A Human Rights Based Approach to Integrated Water Resources Management

In 2017, the UNDP-SIWI Water Governance Facility together with WaterLex, REDICA and Cap-Net published a manual on the human rights-based approach (HRBA) to integrated water resources management (IWRM). It brings together two fields that, until recently, had been separate.

The need for this manual became felt as awareness grew within the human rights community that water management and planning from the river basin perspective is fundamental to the realization of a range of human rights – such as the right to life, the right to health, the right to food and the right to a healthy environment.

Similarly, water resources planners and practitioners have become increasingly aware of the crucial importance of water in key human rights domains. Both groups are here offered means to understand the rationale behind the HRBA, the principles of good governance, and the steps involved when applying a rights-based approach, through reading material, arguments, and tools to support the work.

An online training, based on the Manual as part of Cap-Net’s virtual campus, was first made available in 2017. The course has now been updated and improved by the UNDP-SIWI Water Governance Facility , Cap-Net, REDICA and HumanRight2Water to cater to developments in the field. Among other things, this enabled a widened look at water management and the explanation of what IWRM consists of now also compares it with the Source-to-Sea (S2S) approach.

Offered as a self-paced course in five modules, it allows participants to sign up and complete the course at a suitable time and speed. As an introductory course, participants are not expected to have previous knowledge on human rights or the HRBA. There is a discussion forum to encourage learning, where organisers respond to questions from the participants. To earn a certificate, all requirements must be completed before the 30 April 2021.

Read more and register here https://cap-net.org/humanrights/.