Podcast – Co-creation of knowledge(s) for water governance

What is co-creation of knowledges? How can it help deal with conflicts and unintended consequences in a policy making cycle?

Jan 30, 2023

Podcast – Co-creation of knowledge(s) for water governance

SUMERNET researchers often engage with local actors and marginalized communities in a range of different cultural, social, and ecological situations.

For this this podcast episode, we talked with Professor Kanokwan Manorom, a lecturer and field researcher at Ubon Ratchathani University of Thailand, who has been working with local communities to bridge local knowledges with science as part of a process of deeper participation and inclusion of community voices in water governance.

The podcast discusses the definition of knowledge(s) (in plural), and the co-creating approach used by Prof. Kanokwan from her experiences in Northeastern Thailand. She is currently working with the Ta-mui community-based school in developing the Mekong curriculum, and scaling up it to neighboring communities and formal schools.

Prof. Kanokwan highlights the need for a safe public space to allow local people to freely express their perspectives in producing knowledge together with other stakeholder groups.

She said: “It doesn't mean every actor has equal opportunity or has equal power to negotiate. So, that's why we need to create a safe space for the powerless group to play a role, to express their voices, to express their concern, express the problem, and offer their solution. And the government should be open-minded and should allow them to talk and allow more space for them.”

Episode host: Rajesh Daniel
Sound editing: Rajesh Daniel and Kadesiree Thossaphonpaisan
Series producers: Rajesh Daniel and Variya Plungwatana

Download the transcript using the link below. Links for additional resources and reading are also included in the transcript.

DOWNLOAD FILE_TRANSCRIPT