Stephen Otieno, postgraduate student at the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies was among the recipients of the 2012 Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant (AIGRG) offered by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada. The grant supports Africa and Canada-based graduate students undertaking policy-related research on Africa. It builds capacity by providing grantees with an opportunity to conduct new and innovative research and publish work in their field of expertise, and in alignment with the Africa Initiative's critical issue areas. His research, being supervised by Prof. George Krhoda & Dr. Sam Owuor, examines water governance challenges in informal settlements, and is an outgrowth of his involvement with an IDRC/DFID-funded project on strengthening the role of civil society in water governance and climate change adaptation in African cities. Stephen was accepted as a visiting scholar at York University in Toronto for a period of 6 months. During his visit, he was able to interact with practitioners and other researchers in water governance from York University, University of Waterloo, University of Guelph, University of Toronto, Toronto Regional Conservation Authority and The Toronto City Council. He also participated in course tutorials, research projects, seminars and conferences as an identifiable member of York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies.