Using The Innovative Potential of Knowledge Networks and Cop’s In Strengthening Human and Institutional Research Capacity in the Nile Region

It is widely recognised that establishment of specialized networks among scientists and professionals has become the new model to deal with capacity building. But access to global information without knowledge of the local situation and context has little sense. Therefore, creating international networks of professionals and communities of practice that share best practices and lessons learned from both the South and the North could be a very efficient way to this end. When they function well they provide suitable knowledge 'just in time ' and 'just enough', and the beneficiaries have a much stronger sense of ownership. Moreover through such networks, developing countries can learn directly from each other by sharing indigenous knowledge and recent development successes and failures as well as from donor-country experts. In this way the traditional “expert → counterpart ” model assuming a one-way flow of knowledge from the North to the South will be replaced by the two-way flow of knowledge, which allow professionals in developing countries to “scan globally and reinvent locally”. At the same time it allows development institutions in the North to become more responsive to demand and knowledge flows in the South. Through the establishment of the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network (NBCBN)