NEXUS Gains has supported curriculum change and strengthened capacities of water–energy–food–ecosystems (WEFE) nexus leaders.
Bringing sectors together across the WEFE nexus requires a broad foundation of nexus knowledge and capacity. The CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains and its partners launched courses, training, and open-access learning resources for students, practitioners, and leaders in Nepal and other countries. These strengthened the capacities of current and future nexus leaders, and solidified cross-sector networks for effective nexus practice and policy. One course has been institutionalized into postgraduate university programs, while another forms part of a major global learning platform.
Ever-greater pressures on shared WEFE resources call for new ways to balance trade-offs and seek synergies among sectors, while centering concerns for gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). To address these complex issues, professionals working in WEFE sectors require both technical skills and general skills like negotiation and leadership. To shift entire systems, including the institutions that lead policies, programs, and practices in WEFE sectors, toward integrated approaches will take a whole generation of WEFE “nexus professionals” – a huge capacity-building challenge.
NEXUS Gains approached this challenge knowing that capacity building is key to the work of boundary partners taking every NEXUS Gains innovation forward. Broad as well as specialized WEFE knowledge, the presence of leaders and champions, and strong social capital and networks across sectors all enable nexus approaches to flourish. The Initiative pursued a multi-pronged strategy to effect concerted change across these areas. A hub-and-spoke model was followed to create centers of excellence that could bring other regions along. One such ‘hub’ was in Nepal.
The Initiative targeted current and future nexus leaders through university curriculum change and professional courses, and by creating valuable learning resources that could be used globally to enable integrated WEFE management at scale.
In one successful effort, NEXUS Gains supported the Center for Water Resources Studies at Nepal’s Tribhuvan University to create tailored courses for three distinct groups. These are an academic course for graduate students; a professional course for early- to mid-career professionals; and a sensitization course for policymakers. All were co-developed with researchers from multiple fields and institutes in a participatory and iterative process, then piloted and revised over three years. Tribhuvan University has integrated the academic course into the postgraduate curriculum at its esteemed Institute of Engineering and Institute of Forestry, and will soon be bringing it to its Centre for Water Resource Studies. A 2024 evaluation concluded that the course, as a seed planted through the university curriculum, will gradually impact the whole system and practices in the long run.
Educators around the world can also download the courses, open access, from the NEXUS Gains resource repository. In a training of trainers for the academic course, professionals from Uzbekistan and Pakistan joined professors from Nepal in Kathmandu to gain capacities to adapt and deliver the course in their universities and contexts. Similar efforts to bring WEFE nexus academics and professionals together are reflected in NEXUS Gains’ creation of an international nexus community of practice in partnership with other key players in this area of work.
“The training provided invaluable insights into the interconnectedness of water, land, energy, forests, and biodiversity, and their crucial role in various aspects of life, including nutrition, health, food security, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability. I am eager to share the insights gained from the training with my colleagues and faculty staff … and to explore potential avenues for collaboration in advancing research and education in the field of the WEFE nexus.”
Professor Gulomjon Umirzakov, National University of Uzbekistan, at NEXUS Gains Training of Trainers in Kathmandu, April 2024
Other successful NEXUS Gains strategies for capacity strengthening have included the integration of learning resources in existing global nexus platforms. For example, an online learning module that focuses specifically on gender and inclusion dimensions of the WEFE Nexus was developed to enhance GIZ’s Nexus Regional Dialogues training material with a GESI perspective, thereby reaching the large global Dialogues community. Integrated into GIZ’s popular learning platform, the module is available to a broad audience who can put this knowledge to use.
NEXUS Gains has developed other advanced learning initiatives to support early career researchers and practitioners. Online masterclasses offered professionals a sophisticated conceptual understanding of WEFE sectors and their interconnections. Building on the masterclasses, NEXUS Gains then held five in-person advanced schools to improve evidence-based decision making capacities in Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Southern Africa.
Building up leaders has been as important as building knowledge. In Nepal, a study on barriers women professionals face in WEFE sectors informed the development of a WEFE Nexus Leadership Program. The six-month course led by GREAT International and Governance Lab included a mentorship and practical component, with contents ranging from nexus science to workplace gender dynamics and transformative leadership. A training manual will allow the course to be scaled elsewhere. The first 20 graduates, primarily women but also men government officials and professionals in WEFE sectors, have gone on to lead their own workshops in their departments and workplaces – reaching another 74 young professionals in 2024. The leaders report increased capacities to manage complex WEFE nexus challenges and opportunities to advocate and lead for WEFE Nexus approaches wherever they go – whether formal learning environments, informal discussions, or policy circles.
Header image: WEFE nexus approaches course developer Professor Vishnu Pandey (Deputy Director, Center for Water Resources Studies, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal) with a global group of educators at a Training of Trainers in Kathmandu, April 2024.