Inaugural meeting of Resource Recovery and Reuse research theme

The first meeting of the Water Land and Ecosystems Resource Recovery & Reuse (RRR) research theme took place on 25-26 April, 2012, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Hosted by IWMI, the main meeting was followed on 27th April by side meetings on projects already running. The meeting aimed to:

• Broaden our perspective of key partners around RRR research along the research for development pathway
• Brief people about work currently being undertaken by centers which feed into the program
• Understand options to increase the significance of the program through new ideas and concept notes on important knowledge gaps.

Participants came from different sectors which enriched the discussions: CGIAR (IWMI, ICARDA, ICRISAT, CPWF), the private sector, donor representatives, UN agencies, IWA, ARI, NGOs and government agencies. The workshop devoted significant time to group discussions and interactive analysis resulting in stakeholder maps, challenge identification, and concept notes.

The first day was spent on analyzing the RRR universe and the potential role of the subprogram within the larger context of other institutions and initiatives, key challenges and knowledge gaps. On day two this analysis was used to generate ideas for cutting edge research. According to Simon Cook, the RRR subprogram is currently the smallest one in CRP5 but a very lively and strategic one with likely spillovers into other subprograms.

On day 3, approaches and progress of ongoing projects were discussed. According to Pay Drechsel, one of the facilitators of the meeting, the workshop helped tremendously for strategic planning but also for adjusting the work within ongoing projects and the identification of supporting action research with exciting new partners.