Examining the benefits of collaboration: the Provider-User Matrix for collaborative flood risk management illustrated by the case of the Ljusnan River, Sweden

Abstract

This paper examines the benefits of collaboration in flood risk management by introducing a Provider-User Matrix. The matrix is illustrated through a Swedish case of polycentric decision-making. In the Swedish case the users have not yet benefited from collaboration-benefits such as a more advanced understanding of the flood response system or from sharing detailed hydrological data; benefits that should be easily implemented. The Provider-User Matrix offers both a more holistic way to study benefits and a way to start raising the efficiency of collaboration, by identifying mismatches between the benefits provided and the benefits that users need.

Keywords:

• benefit
• collaboration
• flood management
• shared ownership
• water resources

Notes

1. The collaboration providers are here defined as the individual members of the collaborating network or group itself. By users we mean the organizations and actors represented in the collaborating group rather than the group itself. Because all potential collaboration beneficiaries are unlikely to be represented in the collaborating group, actors with similar or related mandates outside the collaborating group are also defined as users here.

2. The case is used as a means for explaining the Provider-User Matrix. The case is not intended to generalize what benefits collaboration has or the relationship between provider and user perspectives.

3. Many of these approaches are quantitative (e.g., questionnaires, numbers of projects completed) and intend to provide a general picture of the level of success or the kinds of benefits that collaboration can deliver. For the purpose of explaining the Provider-User Matrix we use a single case study design which enables in-depth interviews with providers and users and context-specific understanding. This is intended to illustrate the matrix’s potential to deliver a deeper understanding of the collaboration and the way it could be developed, as well as of how it is related to contextual factors.