All posts by Emmanuel Akpabio

About Emmanuel Akpabio

Emmanuel Akpabio is a geographer (graduated with a 1st Class Hons, 1999) by training and a scholar in water resources management in the Developing Countries. He holds a PhD with an area of specialization in Environmental and Resource Management. He is a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Natural Resources Management, University of Uyo, Nigeria. He has been a Commonwealth (CSC) visiting scholar to Lancaster University, UK (2004-2006). He was a British Academy Visiting Fellow to Newcastle University, UK (2008). He was awarded an AvH Fellowship and served as a Senior Researcher with the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany (2011-2012); awarded a JSPS Fellowship and served as a visiting Professor with the Disaster Prevention and Research Institute (DPRI) Kyoto University, Japan (2013-2015). He was a Visiting Research Associate, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford (July-August 2014). He is currently a MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE Fellow, Department of Geography, University of Dundee, United Kingdom (2018-Present). He has participated in several international fora on water resources management in several countries. He has served in most International Panels/discussion groups on issues pertaining to African development. In September 2013, Emmanuel Akpabio was designated as one of the participants (on behalf of IWRA) at the UNESCO strategic and High-Level Meeting on Water Security and Cooperation held in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2008, the British Academy, in collaboration with the Royal Society (UK) and African Studies Association (ASAUK) specifically invited him for a Panel discussion on the framework for Africa-UK Research collaboration in the social sciences and Humanities. The outcome of the discussion (Nairobi Report) is available at the British Academy website www.britac.ac.uk. Akpabio has been involved in many international collaborative/linkage activities. He has consulted for Governments and major organizations. Emmanuel Akpabio has delivered several Keynote Speeches in many countries of the world. His work has equally been used by several academic and development organizations across the world. Water Aid, Ghana, has been one of the latest organizations to find my work on WASH as very useful and consequently invited me to share some of the ideas on October 6-10, 2014. I delivered a keynote speech entitled “Taking WASH on its root’, socio-cultural realities and alienated solution: adapting development intervention to local complexities in sub-Saharan Africa”, at the National Level Learning Alliance Program (NLLAP) Conference, Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, Accra, Ghana. 7th October 2014. I also led a three-day intensive training workshop for its staff as well as the representatives of the following organizations: Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), Professional Network Association (PRONET), Akuapem Community Development Program (ACDEP), Bihasun integrated development organization (BIDO) and policy makers. Emmanuel Akpabio has served as one of the distinguished Panelists on National Water Legislation: a Comparative Perspective at the 3rd Istanbul International Water Forum, Haliç Congress Centre, Istanbul, Turkey. 27-29th May 2014. He is actively involved in research and has several publications. His recent publication titled 'Water meanings, Sanitation practices and Hygiene behaviors in the Cultural mirror: a perspective from Nigeria' was awarded the Water Institute (North Carolina, USA) Prize in 2012. Emmanuel Akpabio was a Director in the Executive Board of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA: 2013-2015) and served as one of the members in the International Scientific Steering Committee for the XVth World Water Congress held at Edinburgh, United Kingdom (2015)(http://worldwatercongress.com/committees/). He is currently serving in the editorial board of the Society and Natural Resources Journal (SNR) (2017-2020). Akpabio is currently the Akwa Ibom State coordinator, Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows Alumni of Nigeria (COSFAN- 2018 to present). Emmanuel Akpabio ist verheiratet mit Precious und habe funf kinder-alles sohn. Mein Liebling Hobbys sind karate, spazieren, lernen, schreiben und immer fernsehen. Ich spreche Efik/Ibibio, Englisch und ein bisschen Deutsch und Japanese. Ich Liebe Nigeria und die menschen. Herzlich Wilkommen

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Sub-Saharan Africa: understanding policy and practice

Science underpins Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) policies by promoting improved understanding of ‘processes’ and ‘practices’ and providing evidence enabling effectiveness, or ‘impact’ to be evaluated. However, knowledge exchange between stakeholders rarely runs smoothly or without translational challenges. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene understanding policy and practice (WaSH-UPP) will explore the grand challenge of ‘water and sanitation for all’, recently codified in UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 with particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), exploring how formal and informal institutions intersect to shape policy practices. This will be achieved through comparative analysis of two countries (Nigeria and Malawi) (i) mapping the critical actors in the WaSH-UPP-nexus;( ii) evaluating the features of science-policy discourse; (iii) revealing knowledge co-production practices; and (iv) elaborating how institutional processes interact to shape change. Despite the centrality of WaSH to human wellbeing and societal development, widespread improvements in practices in SSA remains slow, with well-recognized barriers including cultural/religious beliefs, weakly developed water services infrastructure and socio-economic factors including gender relations. WaSH-UPP will use a range of discourses, theories, and methods to compare these issues across diverse contexts. The project will equally be used to connect with the water industry, major institutions and other stakeholders including Hydro Nation Scholars initiatives of the Scottish Government Water Industry Team, UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Poicy and Science, African Development Bank (AFDB), etc to broaden the WaSH stakeholder base beyond the academic and policy communities, bringing them into conversation to understand diverse perspectives, bridge existing power and knowledge gaps, promote social learning, leading to greater impact. A WaSH science-policy context for each country will be developed to draw out commonalities and differences as a way to answer some questions of ‘what’ has or has not worked and ‘why’. WaSH-UPP is fully funded by the European Union under the Marie Curie Scheme, and coordinated by Prof John Rowan (himself a Geographer, immediate past Dean of the Social Sciences and current Vice-Principal, i.e., Deputy VC, Research, Knowledge exchange and Wider Impact).