Abstract This thesis presents innovative applications of Multi-Objective Decision Support Systems (MODSS) to forestry decision support. New MODSS methodologies were developed to assess and evaluate forestry practices and finance regimes. The assessment of forestry investments draw on case studies conducted in the Hodgson Creek catchment on the Darling Downs in south Queensland and on the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland, Australia. MODSS are systems that aid decision-making, in which a set of alternative management options are evaluated against a set of decision criteria. The criteria, that represent the stakeholders’ goals and objectives, are weighted to reflect stakeholder preferences regarding their relative importance. The weighted criteria scores are then aggregated to create an overall measure of option performance. In the first case study, MODSS procedures identified from the literature as being most suitable to forestry and the MODSS software package DEFINITE was used. After a critical review of the first study, a new MODSS was developed to address the particular needs of forestry evaluations and the weaknesses of current MODSS for addressing these needs. Limitations of the Hodgson Creek MODSS included lack of stakeholder engagement in the MODSS development process, inefficient use of the stakeholder time and an excessive work load on the experts in the scoring process. The new MODSS development process included the combined use of weighted sum and Electré aggregation methods, these being compensatory and non-compensatory aggregation methods. This combination of aggregation methods provided a measure of overall option performance and identified the presence of fatal flaws in the options. Various criteria weighting methods were trialled – including rank order methods, the analytical hierarchy process and direct assessments – to assess their utility for defining weights that reflected stakeholder priorities. A new hybrid weighting technique was developed using a combination of rank order methods and direct assessments. A new and innovative process for scoring options and criteria was developed, using an adaption of the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) in conjunction with a new computer-based Group Decision Support System (GDSS). This iterative process involved repeated rounds of individual scoring and group discussions. In the workshop conducted to elicit scores from experts, the GDSS was used to identify criteria where the elicited scores differed and discussions were focused on these criteria. After the discussions the options were rescored against the criteria and discussed further. This analysis was innovative in that uncertainty around the individual option scores was addressed for the first time using MODSS. This new application was developed in a spreadsheet using the risk analysis package @RISK. Evaluations of forestry options were undertaken at various time scales to address the long delay between incurring costs of tree planting and receiving returns from harvest. The various time scales identify the periods in which environmental and social benefits occurred as the trees grow and the economic benefits occurred at clearfell (or selective) harvest. This thesis specifically focuses on situations where measured and modelled data is not available, and seeks to increase the scientific rigour of the use of expert and stakeholder opinion in MODSS. The MODSS analyses revealed that forestry in the case study areas had the potential to offer considerable economic, environmental and social benefits to both landholders and the wider community. However, these benefits (and the associated costs) were not viewed as equally important. The MODSS developed in this study addressed these concerns. The benefits and costs of an option were reflected in its performance against the criteria. The degree of importance of the individual criteria varied from minor to high and overriding all other considerations. Criteria against which an option performed highly (the option’s strengths) were identified, as were criteria against which an option performed poorly (the option’s weaknesses). When these weaknesses occurred in highly important criteria, these were identified as fatal flaws in the option. The first case study in the Hodgson Creek catchment considered eight forestry options against 17 economic criteria, 12 environmental criteria and 12 social criteria. The second case study on the Atherton Tablelands considered 16 forestry options against eight economic criteria, six environmental criteria and five social criteria. The MODSS analysis identified the most preferred forestry options and the strengths and weaknesses of the options. In both case studies the most preferred options were large or medium-sized plantations with monoculture plantings with an element of non-landholder funding, in the form of government funding, joint ventures or land leasing agreements. These options had the highest performance against the economic criteria at all time scales and satisfactory environmental and social performance. Other forestry options that performed well included plantings focused on under-utilised land areas and salinity prevention areas, agroforestry, and selective harvesting of private native forest. These options generally had a higher level of performance against the social and environmental criteria, but lower levels of performance against economic criteria. These plantings would be undertaken for environmental and social reasons and not for financial returns. The application of MODSS developed in this thesis presents a significant scientific contribution to MODSS methodology. This thesis includes: the use of multiple time-periods to address the temporal differences in the delivery of benefits and costs, the use of NGT and a GDSS to provide a process for rapidly eliciting expert opinion, and the use of the combination of Electré and weighted sum aggregation methods to provide an overall measure of option performance and to identify fatal flaws in the options.

This thesis investigated the development of the Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA Standard), which is a new approach to identifying important sites for biodiversity. Key Biodiversity Areas are defined as sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. The KBA Standard was developed through a global stakeholder engagement process convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IUCN Task Force). The engagement process included four main components: (i) technical workshops with subject experts; (ii) interviews and an online questionnaire with end-users; (iii) regional events with additional interested stakeholders; and (iv) an open online consultation where stakeholders were invited to review the draft KBA Standard. The aim of this thesis was to use an action research approach to work with the IUCN Task Force to analyse the end-user component of the global stakeholder engagement process. End-users were defined during the engagement process as those who lead or influence decision-making processes linked to mechanisms that secure biodiversity or that avoid biodiversity loss. The main objectives of this research were to: (i) clarify the purpose of engaging end-users by examining the use of normative, instrumental, and substantive rationales; (ii) use mixed methods to gain an understanding of end-users’ needs and concerns; (iii) categorise and analyse end-users’ needs and concerns by sector and region; (iv) assess the end-user engagement process through a summative evaluation; (v) examine how end-user input was used to inform the development of the KBA Standard; and (vi) develop a set of recommendations related to global end-user engagement practice. The analysis indicated that the IUCN Task Force used a blend of instrumental and substantive rationales to justify engaging end-users. Five main categories of end-user needs and concerns emerged from the analysis of the qualitative interview data: (i) the need for communication and local stakeholder engagement; (ii) the potential for the KBA Standard to either complement or conflict with existing approaches; (iii) the need for clarity regarding the scale at which KBAs can be identified (i.e. global, regional, and/or national); (iv) concerns about the implementation of the KBA Standard, including data availability, timeliness, and resources; and (v) comments about how KBAs inform decision-making, including management options, sustainable use, and prioritisation. These topics were examined in depth through the qualitative interviews and in breadth through the quantitative questionnaire. The results demonstrate a high level of convergence in opinion on many topics; however, four topics resulted in a divergence in opinion between end-users, including: (i) the scale at which KBAs are identified; (ii) the prioritisation of KBAs over other areas; (iii) whether KBA data should be made freely available; and (iv) whether development activities should be permitted in KBAs. These areas of divergence were analysed further by categorising end-user questionnaire responses by sector and region. The results have important implications for how end-users are identified, categorised, and engaged and highlight the complex and individual nature of end-users’ needs and concerns. The summative evaluation analysed the purpose, process, outputs, and outcomes against a typology of engagement and principles of good practice for international standard setting to reflect upon how end-users’ needs and concerns were integrated into the development of the KBA Standard. This indicated both the strengths and weaknesses of the engagement approaches used and informed the development of 11 recommendations to inform future similar processes. This thesis ultimately helps to bridge the gap between stakeholder engagement theory and practice and provides insight into the challenges and benefits of using a mixed methods action research approach to investigate a global stakeholder engagement process.

Over the past decades the traditional development agenda of a donor-beneficiary model has been replaced by one builton partnerships with mutual benefits. In recent years the paradigms of ‘aid effectiveness’ and ‘developmenteffectiveness’, characterized by a set of new and emerging actors that play an important role in development and arenewed focus on economic growth, have emerged. One of the actors that is becoming more important is the privatesector, as they increasingly have the opportunity to take on a new profound role as development driver. While there hasbeen a trend of decreasing government spending for development aid, the private sector has considerable financial assetsat their disposal. However, the financial contribution of the private sector in sectors related to the SustainableDevelopment Goals remains low. Public-private partnerships are seen as a way that can attract the private sector indoing investments in sustainable development. Especially for global agri-food chains, partnerships have the ambitionto bring about sustainable change. In order to attract the private sector in such collaborations, an understanding of theirinformation needs regarding public-private partnerships and sustainability is necessary. The focus of this research wasto explain those information needs. As part of a case study research, interviews with the private sector were conducted.To gain additional insights, web testing tasks were conducted with the same interviewees. It is found that p the two mainreasons to join in a partnership for the private partners of this case study are because it is a platform for collaborationand knowledge exchange. Understanding these motivations helps to articulate a message that is seen as valuable. Next,with regard to sustainability interests, these mainly fall under the three pillars of sustainability – economic,environmental, social – but it was also found that the companies can use information on traceability and connectingtheir work to the Sustainable Development Goals as ways to communicate about their sustainability efforts. Relatingthis to the findings on information needs and how to communicate about such topics, the main findings suggest that theinformation should be concrete, result-oriented and proof of impact. In general, the information needs of the privatesector all to less or more extent have to do with continuation of the business, while also interest is shown for makingsustainability a viable business case and being a thought leader on sustainability topics. These findings are parallel tothe dominant paradigms of development effectiveness and aid effectiveness that continue to shape the agenda ondevelopment collaboration. / <p>I cannot select the correct organization/department for my supervisor and evaluator as both ar connected to SLU, not UU.</p><p>For Cecilia: Department of Forest Products at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences</p><p>For Per: Department of Economics; Rural Entrepreneurship at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences</p><p></p>

With growing human pressures on the oceans and seas, the resulting decline of ecosystem health and biodiversity is increasingly limiting the ability of marine ecosystems to provide essential functions and resources for human wellbeing. To prevent further marine degradation, an ecosystem based approach to marine management is needed. An integral part of this is constructive stakeholder engagement. However, in a marine context, engagement is often difficult due to traditionally sectoral management and the complexity of marine issues. This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study that evaluates the potential of the ecosystem services approach to support and improve marine stakeholder engagement. First, opportunities and challenges of using the approach in participatory marine management processes were explored through interviews with 39 stakeholders who participated in the application of ecosystem service assessment to marine management in six French and UK case studies. The interviews revealed that the ecosystem services approach can facilitate participatory engagement by improving understanding of complex ecological-socioeconomic systems and fostering constructive dialogue. Second, the potential of the approach for communicating marine management decisions to marine users was tested with a scenario based survey. Responses to three versions of the survey, two with and one without ecosystem services content, were compared, showing that the ecosystem services information did not increase agreement with the management measures proposed in the scenario. An evaluation of the results in the context of environmental behaviour research suggests that the novelty and complexity of the ecosystem services approach might limit its usefulness for top down communication. In contrast, if the approach is integrated in participatory processes, it was concluded that this could have multiple benefits for ecosystem based marine management. From these findings, a conceptual model was developed that provides a normative framework for the effective use of the ecosystem services approach to support constructive participatory engagement in marine governance.

I dagens samhälle finns det ett stort behov av att arbeta hållbart på flera olika samhällsnivåer, inte minst på lokal nivå. Vid stadsutveckling är det viktigt att kommunerna arbetar utifrån den ekonomiska-, miljömässiga- och sociala dimensionen för att åstadkomma en hållbar stadsutveckling. Eftersom stadsutveckling syftar till att skapa en god levnadsstandard för samtliga kommuninvånare är det viktigt att invånarna är delaktiga i hållbarhetsarbetet. En viktig del i hållbarhetsarbetet är att skapa ett effektivt samspel mellan kommunens intressenter som skapar förutsättningar för kunskapsutbyte och integration, vilket i sin tur leder till utvecklingen av ett bättre samhälle. Dessutom bör kommuner vara kapabla till att integrera människor med varierande etiska, religiösa och socioekonomiska bakgrunder i den hållbara staden. Syftet med studien är att undersöka den inbyggda komplexiteten med att engagera intressenter i det kommunala hållbarhetsarbetet vid stadsutveckling. Eftersom studien syftar till att ge en ingående beskrivning av studiens problemområde har en deskriptiv forskningsstrategi valts. Studien bygger på en abduktiv ansats och forskningsmetoden är av kvalitativ karaktär. Empirisk data har insamlats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem respondenter från två kommuner samt genom innehållsanalyser av information på kommunernas hemsidor och årsrapporter. Studiens slutsatser är att samverkan mellan kommuner och deras intressenter är nödvändig för att utveckla en hållbar stad. Dessutom pekar resultatet på att utvärdering av den sociala aspekten inom hållbarhetsarbetet är en viktig komponent som behöver utvecklas och anpassas för att underlätta uppföljningsarbetet. Härutöver är slutsatsen att kommuners kommunikation med invånarna behöver anpassas och utvecklas utifrån invånarnas behov för att underlätta informationsutbyte mellan parterna. / To work sustainably today is of great need at various levels of society, especially at local level. Municipalities work with the economic-, environmental- and social dimensions of sustainability in order to achieve sustainable urban development. Since urban development aims at creating good living standards for city residents, it is important that residents are involved in the sustainability work executed by municipalities. An important part of sustainability is to create effective interactions among the municipality’s stakeholders that create the conditions for knowledge sharing and integration, leading to a better society. Furthermore, municipalities need to integrate people with varying ethical, religious and socio-economic backgrounds in the sustainable city. The purpose of the study is to investigate the complexity of engaging stakeholders in the municipal sustainability work with urban development. Since the study aims at giving a detailed description of the study problem area, a descriptive research strategy was chosen. The study is based on an abductive approach and the research method is qualitative. Empirical data has been gathered through semi-structured interviews with five respondents from two municipalities and through content analysis of information disclosed in municipal websites and annual reports. The study’s conclusions are that cooperation between municipalities and their stakeholders is necessary to develop a sustainable city. The results also indicate that the evaluation of the social aspect of sustainability is an important component that still needs to be developed. Measuring social sustainability is a condition to achieve impactful results with sustainability work. Lastly, the study clearly shows that municipalities’ communication with residents needs to be constantly developed based on the needs of residents to facilitate an effective information exchange.

Abstract Today's society is developing towards a more conscious and dedicated attitude concerning the need for sustainable businesses. To ensure that the construction business who is responsible for massive impacts to environment and the society, the legislation demanding sustainability reporting has been passed in the EU. The purpose of this legislation is to force companies to include the environmental and social aspects of their operations and not just the economic. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how the construction companies in Sweden has been affected due to the legislation on sustainability reporting. The aim of this study is, through a qualitative working method, to answer which governing instruments the construction companies use in order to implement sustainability in the entire organisation on a day to day basis. The study has investigated four construction companies largely based in and around the three biggest cities in Sweden, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. The interviewees in each company has a role in which they are involved in the strategic operations towards sustainability. The aim is here for the study to answer which governing instruments has been the most influential and successful. The results of the study reveals that beyond the legislation each company has a very different approach and layout concerning the sustainability reporting. The reason for this is because each company has different guidelines through frameworks and certification standards. Depending on what they consider to be vital elements to report, the reportings differ leading to different forms of governing throughout the companies. This also shows that the most successful governing instruments differ as well. Although the study concludes that the companies have mutual governing instruments in the form of education for the employees to enhance competence. It also shows that they all use instruments impacting employee values which leads to a comprehensible understanding of the company’s visions and guidelines.

Práticas de responsabilidade social e sustentabilidade são desenvolvidas por empresas como forma de responder às contestações da sociedade. Em especial as de engajamento com stakeholders. No entanto, são baseadas em teorias estratégicas da administração e não garantem resultado satisfatório do ponto de vista das melhorias socioambientais. Com o intuito de avaliar a qualidade dessas práticas para a promoção da sustentabilidade, um estudo multidisciplinar comparado entre teorias de administração e de comunicação apontou para diferentes modelos de engajamento chamados desenhos de interação. Baseado na pensamento comunicacional de Deetz foi possível identificar desenhos de interação - Colaboração, Diálogo e Democracia Generativa - com propensões suscetíveis a sustentabilidade, pois geram criatividade e relações de mútuo benefício aos stakeholders. / Corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices are developed by companies in order to address stakeholder claims. The stakeholder engagement practices are especially interesting. They are based on managerial and strategic theories and have not performed environmentally well lately. In order to evaluate the quality of those practices to promote sustainability, a multidisciplinary study took place. Communication and management theories were compared and different types of engagement, named interaction designs, were identified. Based on Deetz communication theories it was possible to understand specific designs - Collaboration, Dialogue and Generative Democracy - and its propensities to promote sustainability, due to their ability to generate mutual benefits and creativity.

Stakeholder management relates to how business organisations manage their relationships not only with their market stakeholders, but also with their nonmarket stakeholders. It requires firms and business managers to identify and develop effective strategies to balance the interests of many diverse groups or constituents. This requirement has of course been judged to be impractical by those who uphold narrow traditional views about how a firm operates; and is unsupported by those who believe that asking managers to focus on the interests or concerns of groups of constituents that do not directly contribute to the economic achievements or strategic objectives of a firm, is a distraction and an attempt to derail corporate objectives. However, in spite of the criticisms levelled against the notion of stakeholder management, firms can no longer ignore the fact that there are constituents who can affect, and are affected by their business objectives. The aim of this research is to illustrate the practical implications of stakeholder management by exploring how multinational oil corporations operating in the Nigerian oil and gas industry manage their relationships with nonmarket stakeholders; such as the local communities who are affected by their operations. In order to achieve the aims of this research, a case study approach has been adopted; the case study companies include Shell Petroleum Development Company (Shell), Total Exploration and Production (Total), and the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (AGIP). Furthermore, to achieve a balanced perspective regarding the stakeholder management practices of the oil companies, the research incorporates the views of stakeholders from local communities, and those from non-governmental organisations (NGOs). A mixed methods research strategy is employed in the data collection and analysis process to achieve not just triangulation, but also to assist in the comprehension of the research findings. The research established that each of the companies being studied has employed different stakeholder management strategies in order to manage their relationships with the local communities. The strategies employed by the companies, however, appear not to address the issue of environmental impact; the concern which triggered the breakdown in the relationship between the oil companies and the local stakeholders in the first place. They have instead mostly focused on ameliorating the socio-economic issues resulting from oil exploration and production activities, in part as a consequence of pressure from the local communities themselves. Additionally, the findings indicate that the companies have employed hostile and controlling engagement strategies such as intimidation, appeasement, and manipulation, when dealing with local community stakeholders. These strategies are believed to have undermined the quality of their relationship with the local communities. The most notable consequence of these engagement practices is damaged trust amongst community members, as well as between the communities and the oil companies. The findings of this research have strong implications for stakeholder theory, as well as future research into stakeholder management practices, particularly in relation to non-contractual or nonmarket stakeholders; they also shed light on several important practical issues in business management.

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the process of regional climate adaptation planning and the role of stakeholder deliberation in decision making about adaptation actions. It employed a case study approach based on one of three total study sites of an international, multidisciplinary grant titled, “METROPOLE: An Integrated Framework to Analyze Local Decision Making and Adaptive Capacity to Large-Scale Environmental Change”. The purpose of the case study of this project was to analyze stakeholder deliberation at two workshops at the grant’s Broward County, Florida site regarding two adaptation options: elevation/floodproofing and voluntary buyouts. Analyzing stakeholder deliberation about these two options allowed for the identification of specific barriers to adaptation for stakeholders in this region. These barriers were then used to suggest values regarding adaptation priorities and planning. The primary idea driving this project was that deliberation provides a pragmatic approach to determining stakeholder values and preferences – which ought to be used to inform planning and decision making about climate policy. The ultimate goal of this project was to demonstrate how the rhetorical concepts of situated judgment, persuasion, and deliberation can be applied in adaptation planning processes and therefore, how applied rhetoric contributes to the production of “usable” science, or science that takes decision makers’ preferences and needs into account when making policy decisions. The problem that this project responds to involves three interrelated parts: framing, communication, and policymaking. Currently, climate change framing in the US is largely characterized by “debate” and emphasizes only one aspect of the climate change problem: cause. The second part of the problem pertains to communication and in particular, the way in which scientific and economic data about climate change/adaptation is typically delivered to non-scientific audiences. The third part of the problem as it is addressed in this project pertains to policymaking, or what enables or prevents progress toward effective policymaking. Data collected for this project include: surveys, 10 in-depth interviews, and field notes. The first layer of analysis was facilitated through Decision Explorer, a qualitative software commonly used in strategic management and decision sciences. For this project, Decision Explorer was used to cognitively map and analyze data from the 10 in-depth interviews. The second layer of analysis used NVivo, a qualitative coding software, to organize and code data collected from all sources. The findings of this project concluded that for stakeholders in this region, the four primary barriers to adaptation were: leadership, resources, invisibility/timing, and the limitations of modeling processes. Stakeholders’ primary values about climate adaptation reflected their strong sense of place attachment. These values were expressed in terms of altruistic values, or concerns about how the local implications of climate may affect humans (e.g., how vulnerably located critical infrastructure and weakening transportation infrastructure will affect citizens’ safety and community resilience) and “scientific” values, such as the inclusion of regional scientific factors in climate modeling and adaptation planning. One of the most significant contributions of this project was the development of an approach that leverages the application of rhetorical concepts in science policy planning/decision making. This unique strategy embedded the rhetorical components of deliberation, situated judgment, phronesis and persuasion within the three framing tasks of collective action framing (i.e., diagnostic, prognostic and motivational framing) to illustrate a unique approach for engaging stakeholders in adaptation planning. More broadly, this project responded to calls for social science research to provide useful recommendations about how to facilitate more effective stakeholder engagement and communication about climate adaptation planning and policy.

According to the World Resources Institute, Barbados is one of seven Caribbean countries ranked as being the most water stressed territories in the world. Prevailing drought conditions for the period 2010-2016 further compromised its water security while confirming predictions of a drier regional Caribbean climate. The simultaneous failing of at least 50-year-old water infrastructure at many points in the distribution network adds to these water stress conditions, and presents a financial burden to the local water utility in the form of lost revenues, and increased energy consumption for pumping. Climate change and its impacts are not gender-neutral, and water infrastructure projects developed to mitigate and or adapt to climate change impacts will have different degrees of gender dimensions, based on the social and economic contexts within which populations are embedded. Incorporating gender differences in climate projects is smart economics, and as such the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the first international fund to mandate the integration of a “gender-sensitive approach” throughout project life cycles. The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is applying, with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (5Cs), for funding from the Green Climate Fund to pursue an Energy-Water-Nutrient Nexus for Sustainable Coastal Infrastructure (EWN-SCI) project. The proposed project will develop an interdisciplinary program in Barbados that implements demonstration sites with integrated water supply, resource recovery, and renewable energy management systems that are designed to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, support climate change adaptation strategies, build technical capacity in the Caribbean region, and share lessons learnt with the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries. The overall goal of this research is to present practical guidelines, and approaches to mainstream and operationalize gender throughout the life cycle of water and wastewater infrastructure projects using an Energy Water Nutrient nexus project in Barbados. The objectives to guide this research are (1) to determine the institutional and legal frameworks that inform the types and extent of gender mainstreaming activities to be incorporated in the development of water and wastewater climate infrastructure projects in Barbados, (2) to characterize the current landscape for integrating gender into the design and management of water and wastewater infrastructure in Barbados, and (3) evaluate and recommend opportunities for gender integration in the life cycle of water and wastewater infrastructure in Barbados. Literature and tools for categorization of the gender dimensions of water and wastewater infrastructure (centralized and decentralized) projects in Small Island Developing States, and particularly Caribbean nations to determine the scope, and type of appropriate gender mainstreaming activities are limited. In the literature, gender equality as a goal of climate financing mechanisms was introduced retroactively for several multilateral climate funds due to sub-optimal project outcomes from gender blind projects. Projects implemented by these funds globally, post inclusion of explicit gender equality outcomes can provide direct, or indirect guidance on appropriate gender mainstreaming activities to be included in the development of water and wastewater infrastructure projects in Barbados. Case studies on water and sanitation gender vulnerabilities in Jamaica provide one of the few ideal sources of information on Caribbean gender mainstreaming activities. To inform objective 1, literature on Barbados’ population, socio-economic statistics, and national gender and climate change policies was used to determine the status and scope of institutional and legal commitments to gender mainstreaming the development of water and wastewater climate adaptive infrastructure in Barbados. To satisfy objective 2, a gender profile of technical and leadership roles at the BWA was created, and social media information, results of a water user survey, focus groups and interviews were analyzed to gain cultural context, and community insight on existing gender inequalities, impacts resulting from the types of water infrastructure projects pursued and their methods of implementation. The survey, focus groups and interviews were conducted in Barbados during the period 10/20/16 to 11/8/16. This period was characterized by unprecedented water shortages and interruptions which were reflected in the feedback from the data analysis. For objective 3, gender impacts of the infrastructural components of the EWN-SCI projects were described, and opportunities to address these concerns across the individual infrastructure project cycles were proposed. There are currently no legislative commitments to gender equality in water and wastewater resources management in Barbados. A Draft National Policy on Gender is presently before parliament but the policy does not address gender and water. The BWA has more men than women employed in technical (45% vs 3.5%), and leadership (9.1% vs 3.9%) roles which directly contribute to the design and management of the utility’s projects. Most of these individuals are in the middle or near the end of their careers (> 40 years of age), and thus present a timely opportunity to recruit, train and promote women to fill these roles. On social media (Facebook and Twitter), many individuals described the challenges experienced during the water shortages. Individuals also criticized the BWA for their lack of communication during this period. The lack of an online presence by the BWA represented a lost opportunity to engage its stakeholders on collaborative solutions that could temporarily or permanently alleviate the challenges. The water user survey revealed a statistical significant association (p ≤ 0.05) between gender and type of water storage container used at the household level. Men were more likely than women to report use of larger plastic buckets and tanks, while women showed a preference for smaller buckets and bottles. Identification and consideration of design parameters such as preference for type and size of storage receptacle, system elevation, position of cleaning access point, and need for a pump will facilitate or limit the successful adoption or adaptation of rainwater harvesting systems. The proposition of a research arm of the utility that could study gender dimensions of health impacts of water quality and water interruptions, and economic studies assessing feasibility of introducing a tariff structure on water provision were priority projects from the BWA. Investment in equipment at the national government lab, and at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Chemistry Department represents a skills building and economic empowerment opportunity for women who form the bulk of workforce at these institutions. The key recommendations identified from the Gender Impact Assessment for the model EWN-SCI Projects were to the need to identify clear gender objectives and targets prior to project implementation to ensure their incorporation in the project. Budgetary allocations to appoint a gender focal point who would coordinate these activities are also recommended. Job creation is one the main areas for distribution of project benefits for the EWN-SCI Project. Since the current skillsets for technical jobs at the BWA bias allotment to men, and at the UWI Chemistry Department there is bias in favor of women, targeted training and recruitment should be aimed at the under-represented sex for each position. Additionally the inclusion of socio-economic information as a criterion for prioritization of locations for intervention was recommended.