Lessons learned from the Lodz Learning Alliance

Learning for Learning Alliances
Capturing and sharing lessons learned from the Lodz SWITCH Learning Alliance through process documentation by Nadia Manning International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Output prepared from: ‘Writing and Voice Group’ During: ‘Training course on Process documentation of Learning Alliances and Action Research’ Lodz, Poland 1st-5th July 2007.

Latest news

Stopping the floods: impressions from international visitor by DICK DE JONG.
Building bridges over the Sokolowka river by PHIL SHARP.
SWITCH on.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz1.pdf

Building bridges over the Sokolowka river by PHIL SHARP.
Łódź, a water city today? …a water city tomorrow? by MARTIN RIVERA.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz2.pdf

Visiting Łódź, the water city by MARTIN RIVERA.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz3.pdf

Andrzej’s view from the end of the pipelineby ALISTAIR SUTHERLAND, PHIL SHARP and JOCHEN ECKART.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz4.pdf

Latest news cont..

Bringing back the true wealth of Łódz by BAKER YIGA.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz5.pdf

Olechowka River: a blessing or a curse or the neighbourhood of Kowalszczyzna? by LAURENCE GILLOT.
No time to talk but to work by SIMRET YASABU.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz6.pdf

We are fearing the next floods by ALEX MGABUTA.
SWITCH Łódz Learning Alliance.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz7.pdf

Platform to exchange experience (interview with the water quality engineer, municipal company of water supply and sewage system in Lodz by RANIA ANWAR ZOUBI.
The city of sad faces by RANIA ANWAR ZOUBI.
Fishing from the river of knowledge by BERTA DARTEH.
2007-gazeta-switch-learning-in-lodz8.pdf

Gazeta Wyborcza: SWITCH learning in Lodz

The 8-page Gazeta Wyborcza: SWITCH learning in Lodz with 12 impressions was produced by a great team effort under high time pressure. The headlines:

• Stopping the floods: impressions from international visitors
• Building bridges over the Sokolowka river
• SWITCH on
• Lodz, a water city today, a water city tomorrow?
• Bringing back the true wealth of Lodz
• Olechowka river: a blessing or a curse for the neighbourhood of Kowalszczyna
• No time to talk but to work
• Olechowka river: “We are fearing the next floods”
• Andrzej’s view from the end of the pipeline
• Visiting Lodz, the water city
• Platform to exchange experiences
• The city of sad faces
• Fishing from the river of knowledge

As editor I bear full responsibility for the content of this SWITCH newspaper. The PDF version will be uploaded soon.
Dick de Jong

Giving rivers back to the citizens

bridges_phil1.doc Driven by a concern for climate change a group of scientists and environmentalists are joining forces with the city administrators to “build a bridge” of common understanding in the community which will bring about a long held dream of liberating these lost rivers and giving them back to the citizens of Lodz to enhance their lives. Supported by a global EU-UNESCO action research programme aptly named SWITCH, a Learning Alliance Stakeholder Group has been formed to help realise this dream.

Phil Sharp read out his lead article in the final sharing session.

Na Mlynku park condemned?

Residents of the Kowalszczyzna neighbourhood in Lodz fear that in the near future a new flood will not only affect them again, but also change the park to a polluted sewage water reservoir.

The residents of Kowalszczyzna and other low-lying areas have suffered from recurrent floodings. The worst flood came in 1997, disrupting their lives for a week. Since then they

Slodzshop day 3: rain, chaos, flu… in the heart of darkness

As we progress in this process documentation jungle, we – happy documenters – are suffering from adverse conditions… the morale has gone down, but we have started collecting an interesting and exotic set of P.D. specimens: pictures, soundbites, videos, interviews, articles… On the ever crucial third day of the workshop we have seen again an interesting mixture of chaos and structure.

Olechowka River: a blessing or a curse for the neighbourhood of Kowalszczyzna?

The river Olechowka has two faces. Risks of floods are haunting the inhabitants with consequences of pollution for the entire area. “The river has strengthened the local community, who are fighting together for a better neighbourhood but also socializing on the river banks” explains Barbara Mucha, a representative of the local community of Kowalszczyzna.

Some memorable quotes…

Voices from the people interviewed:

• “We are just the people at the end of the pipe…what can we do?”
• “Sometimes I get the feeling that we are trying too hard…”
• “Stormwater is what triggered our interest in SWITCH”
• “I will do anything to limit the volume of stormwater getting into the system”
• “SWITCH must show practical benefits and be a be a forum for the exchange of knowledge”
• “The water situation is tragic…..we need to take action now”
• “We need to invest in our young people (students) for the future…”
• “With changing rainfall patterns the city is not safe right now….water wise”
• “The water quality is good now but I don’t know how long this will be the case…”
• “The water situation in Lodz right now is tragic…”
• “The quality of the water that we put into the supply is very good…but it sometimes loses quality in the pipeline…due to some low demand…the pipes are sometime too big”
• “The river has strengthened the local community, who are fighting together for a better neighbourhood but also socializing on the river banks”
• “We are left alone. Nothing was done after the floods. No-one is interested, neither the press nor the politicians”

Lodz Workshop Process Documentation day 2 – Voicing writing issues

Tuesday 3 July, 12:05, alone in the hotel canteen, typing this up… one sure thing about process documentation is this: it’s not just living through the project, but as you’d expect it actually takes some time to sit and jot things down, to map mental confusion but also weird impressions, nice ideas and reflections… And there was quite a bit of all that in this second day of the Slodzshop (for me a useful contraction of “Switch Lodz [pronounce: woodsch] workshop”)… to start with a few key questions in the morning: