The Quebec Watershed Organisations Group (ROBVQ) brings together and represents Quebec’s 40 basin organisations.
Its mission is to promote integrated water management at the basin level and to support these organisations in their activities. As such, it offers them support, training and representation services. The essence of the ROBVQ is to form a unified network, strengthened by a sense of belonging and mutual trust.
Pooling resources and expertise and stimulating innovation, while respecting their autonomy and diversity, are essential elements. This is how the ROBVQ set up communities of practice (CoPs). It began by identifying all the activities carried out by its members. They were then classified under four fields of practice: administration and management, expertise and analysis, mobilisation and communication, and land use planning and regulation. These then formed the four main CoPs. They are organised around workstreams, which aim to build capacity in a specific practice, with the idea of developing the tools, methods, knowledge and know-how associated with it.
To integrate network members who do not take part in the CoPs, the ROBVQ has set up a parallel platform, the Agora. It is the focal point for all the discussions arising from the CoPs. Four events are held each year, including one face-toface event, the Grande Agora. The strength of this process lies in the crossdisciplinary learning that takes place, which is then reproduced in the activities carried out by the basin organisations. In a context where water governance in Quebec relies primarily on the ability of stakeholders to work together and
demonstrate agility and flexibility with few resources, the CoPs are an ideal laboratory for developing the skills needed for integrated water management.
