‘Communites of practice’ clean up rivers
THE Liesbeek and Mosselbank rivers, once heavily polluted rivers on opposite ends of Cape Town, were cleaned up by community volunteers, who took ownership of the problem and worked together to fix it.
The Liesbeek River begins on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain and flows from Kirstenbosch Gardens to Observatory, while the Mosselbank River flows to Fisantekraal.
The role played by so-called “communities of practice” was key in what had been achieved, Andrew Bennett, a researcher at the UCT Future Water Department, said during a session at the Water Institute of Southern Africa’s Breaking Boundaries, Connecting Ideas conference in Cape Town.
Communities of practice are groups of people “who share a common concern or passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact with each other regularly”, according to 2015 research conducted by Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner.
This enables collaborative processes, shared meaning and values that, in turn, inspire action, according to German researcher Professor Claudia Pahl-Wostl.
In the case of the Liesbeek River, a group of concerned residents came together in 1991 to form the Friends of the Liesbeek, with the goal of cleaning up the then heavily polluted river. The group has had some major successes, including bringing the highly invasive purple loosestrife, which was discovered in 2009, under control.
Today the Friends, supported by funding from local business along the river’s route, employs eight fulltime workers to “look after and maintain the river,” said Bennett.
This was a good example of a successful community of practice at work, he added.
“Looking after their river is the core action that has held this community together since 1991. They partnered with local business that saw what was happening… and wanted to get involved.”
Over the years the Friends have built an active and engaged community that is involved in a variety of activities that include holding events and “community paddles” that takes people on canoe trips down the Liesbeek to raise awareness.
On the other side of Cape Town is the community of Greenville, in Fisantekraal, which formed the Mosselbank River Conservation Team to help clean up the heavily polluted Mosselbank River.
The community has signed a co-operation agreement with provincial government, but this was only as good as the intent and goodwill of the parties involved to make it work, said Bennett.
The Greenville community undertakes a variety of activities involving the river, including successful ongoing campaigns to clean up the pollution and garbage choking their river.
Both projects proved the worth of communities of practice in connecting people, by building trust and developing relationships, said Bennett.
They also help stimulate authentic learning, generate new knowledge and promote collaborative processes within a community.
Bennett said both initiatives were proof that when communities of practice work well, they can have a dramatic effect on the environment, as it has with the revival of the Liesbeek and Mosselbank rivers.