Axel Martínez Nieto
Nicaragua

"This course was the perfect vehicle for improving my skills and tools for analyzing and proposing better actions to protect water resources and support water stakeholders in the countries that I work with."

Axel Martínez Nieto is a Water Resources Specialist. He participated in the online course Multi-stakeholder Strategies: Analysis for Winning Coalitions. Read about his experience.

What was your motivation for enrolling in this course/program?
I am currently working on implementing the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Central America. Water is a very sensitive resource for a huge number of stakeholders and subject to diverse crucial uses such as human consumption and agriculture. Being able to map in the best way possible the different perceptions of several stakeholders is vital to ensure adequate development of any intervention, whether it's an infrastructure construction at a community level, or the development of a public water policy at a national level, or even an international treaty regarding a water body.

The course "Multi-stakeholder Strategies: Analysis for Winning Coalition" was the perfect vehicle for improving my skills and tools for analyzing and proposing better actions to protect water resources and support water stakeholders in the countries that I work with.

How did/will this course impact your career or life?
For my learning journey during this course, I decided to analyze a real case from a previous experience in my job. It was a great surprise when we learned to use software to examine several types of stakeholder networks. This allowed me to broaden my analysis and consider particular things I didn't realize at first glimpse. Definitely, I think that my abilities and knowledge have been improved and working for a global network that includes in its membership several actors from different backgrounds and interests, such as the public sector, private sector and civil society organizations, this new level of analysis will allow me to be more assertive with my proposals, approaches and work methodologies.

How was your experience of learning online?
I loved the proposed methodology during the course; learning three different software programs was great but also a challenge. The "learning by doing" approach used real examples suggested by the lecturers, and after that, using the same analysis for my project was the best way to gain knowledge. Also, the videos are very intuitive because they are pretty concise (something that I appreciate a lot). Finally, I want to recognize the group of lecturers; they were very open to supporting us and answering our questions, whether in the forums or even in the open calls, which I consider a great added value from this course.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking of taking a similar course?
Don't think twice; enroll now! If you work in multi-sectorial environments, this course will definitely help you understand relationships between stakeholders or even communities of actors. Some modules can be challenging (Game theory was a particular one for me), but the number of tools and documentation available and all the knowledge gained are definitely worth it!