The HELP Davao Network is a network of individuals and organizations committed to work collectively for management of water for all. Since 2004, the Network has focused on assisting stakeholders to have access to sound science that can be used for guiding complex decisions and hard choices related to the wise management of water. These efforts have been recognised by international bodies including UNESCO, ADB and the IUCN.

In order to progress the management of water resources a Davao Water Partnership (DWP) was forged in late 2010 through the signing of MOU. This MOU severs a framework for collaborative action for better and land and water management. The HELP Davao Network now proposes a IPSI Collaboration Activity (CA) as based on the Paris Declaration on the Satoyama Initiative. The aim of this CA is to: pilot the use of use of IWRM tools to help sustain resilient socio-ecological production landscapes in the upper watersheds of the Davao Region. The CA will be entitled “IWRM for Sustainable Communities.”

This CA will be achieved through collaboration with existing members of the DWP who have established relationship and ongoing programs with indigenous communities in the upper watersheds of the Davao Region. This CA will be implemented as a component under the existing HELP Davao Network program focused on the customisation of IWRM at the River Basin level. The “IWRM for Sustainable Communities” CA will focus on delivering the following objectives:

1. To assess how IWRM policy’s has effected two key socio-ecological production systems in Davao;
2. To document how indigenous traditions and customs effect use of land and water resources
3. To uses IWRM tools to present appropriate land use planning tools at the sub basin level;

This project will build upon existing resources, such as the UNESCO IWRM Guidelines, to develop locally appropriate tools and approaches that provoke and stimulate local actors to help existing systems work more effectively and identify components of the system where change, or harmonization, is required. This will be achieved through the development of local guidelines in a multi disciplinary approach, and will include documentation of social learning’s, development of locally specific modules for IWRM, and the delivery of trainings to a range of local actors including local government agencies, civil societies, academe, businesses, farmers and schools. The integration of online social learning will also be piloted for selected case studies.