{"id":3852,"date":"2019-09-20T17:44:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T15:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flows.hypotheses.org\/?p=3852"},"modified":"2019-09-22T23:36:02","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T21:36:02","slug":"the-dutch-international-water-sector-needs-storytellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flows.hypotheses.org\/3852","title":{"rendered":"The Dutch international water sector needs storytellers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Simon Richter (University of Pennsylvania) joins the debate on exporting and translating Dutch water knowledge in other countries, with a reflection on his experience in Semarang (Indonesia) inspired by an article on Dutch Delta expertise in the Mekong published by our colleagues Shahnoor Hasan, Margreet Zwarteveen, Jaap Evers and Arjen Zegwaard. <\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Banger Polder presentation, seated on carpet (Credits: Cynthia van Elk, courtesy RVO)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I sometimes wonder if Dutch colleagues in the international water sector \u2014 whether stationed in the Netherlands or abroad \u2014 are aware of the Schadenfreude<\/em> that arises when major Dutch projects fail or run into trouble. It\u2019s not a sentiment I share, but I\u2019ve encountered it often enough\u2014most recently in connection with the ups and downs of the Great Garuda Seawall in Jakarta\u2014to know that it\u2019s real and to wonder what\u2019s behind it. Why do some practitioners and colleagues in the field hold negative views about the Dutch and take pleasure in their failures? Is there something useful the Dutch water sector can learn from this? Are there adjustments to be made that would improve the transfer and reception<\/em> of Dutch water know-how in other parts of the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the water sector needs is a constructive critique that pays precise attention to the details of policy or design transfer in a holistic fashion. In a recent article, \u201cMaking Waves in the Mekong Delta: Recognizing the Work and the Actors Behind the Transfer of Dutch Delta Planning Expertise<\/a>,\u201d IHE Delft Doctoral Fellow Shahnoor Hasan and her mentors, Margreet Zwarteveen and Jaap Evers, together with Arjen Zegwaard (Wagenigen University) provide a model of the kind of analysis that will bring the required insights. Instead of assuming and advertising the universal applicability of Dutch water expertise to every delta, Shahnoor and her co-authors show that it\u2019s better to recognize that numerous Dutch and local actors are involved in a process best understood as \u201ctranslation\u201d from one cultural and geographical idiom into another, in which the recipients\u2019 local knowledge and expertise are equal co-participants. Analysis of documents and extensive interviews with Dutch and Vietnamese actors involved in the transfer of the Dutch Delta Approach to the Mekong Delta bears this out. The product of such a process will differ from the initial Dutch input, which some might count as a failure, but the sense of trust and local ownership created through<\/em> the process increases the odds of success. Transfer is enabled by layers of cultural work rendered by both sides. It is important to \u201crecognize\u201d this work in both senses of the word: it needs to be perceived and<\/em> acknowledged as an enabling component. In what follows, I will take the insights I have gained from Shahnoor\u2019s article and apply them to contexts I am familiar with: the United States and Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n