Listening, discovering, learning: our colleague Marion’s participation in a conference on resilience and adaptation gave her a wealth of contacts and useful knowledge.
The conference was organised by ATCB*. SECORES, a network whose founding member is Join For Water, organised a specific session on socio-ecological resilience and biodiversity, where Marion Iceduna – thematic advisor at Join For Water Uganda – took the floor and presented the project WORIAs from Uganda. It was an enriching experience for Marion and she wrote down her impressions.
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The first thing I notice on my drive out of the airport to my Hotel is the distinguishing cleanliness of Kigali streets! A validation of the conversations that people in Uganda hold about Rwanda. After checking into my hotel, I prepared my mind for the next 4 days of a session packed conference, the annual meeting of the Association of Tropical Biological Conservation, ATBC. The theme of the year’s meeting was ‘Achieving Inclusive Science for effective conservation, adaptation and resilience in the Tropics’
I was invited to give a short talk at the Socio-Ecological resilience and Biodiversity Symposium, hosted by the SECORES network. I had the privilege of sharing our work on the WORIAs (Women River Ambassadors) in Uganda and discussing the crucial role of women in conservation and climate resilience. It was also a great opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of Join for Water to socio ecological resilience.
Coming from a development practice background, this was a learning meeting for me, with scientific paper presentations taking the greater part of the meeting. It was interesting to discover and learn from research and academic work. The reflections and questions I kept having in mind after each presentation was in relation to how best we could effectively use scientific research to inform development practice in a more meaningful way. I still feel the two areas are parallel.
“Research and development (R&D) ought to be integrated systemically, in order to maximize the potential contribution of scientific research to effective delivery of development programs in practice”
The meeting went over 4 days. I particularly liked networking and the poster sessions integrated within the main sessions. I met and connected with some interesting people! What an incredible experience at the ATBC annual meeting in Kigali, Rwanda!
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*ATBC, Association of Tropical Biological Conservation
See also: The WORIAs stand firm | Join For Water