Better decisions impacting water

The Dordrecht journey originally began in 2005, years before VWI’s involvement. Following Hurricane Katrina, the idea of enhancing flood security through a Multi-Level Safety (MLS) Model became the starting point of the journey. The MLS model aims to devise a safety strategy contingent on multiple levels of safety, providing better protection in the case of flooding and weather events.

VWI worked on the journey between 2020 and 2022. Through co-creation and diplomacy, VWI and the municipality of Dordrecht developed a strategy for the implementation of the MLS model. Its bottom-up approach ensured the participation of various stakeholders active in the region, resulting in a more inclusive and collaborative process of policy development and implementation.

The journey in Dordrecht proved to be mutually beneficial for both the municipality of Dordrecht and VWI

These are the main outcomes:

– VWI introduced the VWPs, which guided the policy development phase.
– The municipality received valuable guidance and methods for transitioning from policy design to policy implementation.
– Practically, this involved VWI assisting in mapping the various stakeholders affected by the policy, allowing each stakeholder to be involved in the implementation process. Furthermore, the policy implementation plan was devised with the VWPs as its foundation.
– For VWI, the ongoing Dordrecht Journey provided an opportunity to test and apply its core principles and assess the added value of its approach.
– Additionally, the Dordrecht Journey allowed the Dutch government to apply VWI’s approach domestically.
– The application of VWI’s approach resulted in increased knowledge uptake among its various partners in the journey, and awareness of the VWPs was raised, demonstrating the clear benefits of VWI’s approach.