The Ninth International Seminar on Participatory Irrigation Management will be held in Pakistan from 4 – 8 December 2006. The Seminar is being organized by the International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management (INPIM) in collaboration with major Regional and International donors, Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (MinFAL), Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), On-Farm Water Management (OFWM), University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), other Government agencies/institutions in Pakistan (Water/irrigation/agriculture related Ministries/ Departments) and other related national and international NGOs. The theme of this seminar is “Institutional and Technological Interventions for Better Irrigation Management in the New Millennium”.

The seminar will highlight the diverse experiences of both the host country and other nations in the world, as well as selected cases with better practices in irrigation management. The seminar will offer the participants the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in irrigation sector, review state-of-the-art thinking on irrigation reforms, network with irrigation professionals, policy makers and donors from around the world, and see first hand the functioning of newly established institutions, including farmer organizations and water users associations in Pakistan. The program will be of five days and will include three and a half days of presentations and discussions and a day of field visits and interactions with stakeholders and staff of the newly established provincial irrigation and drainage authorities in Pakistan.

Seminar Theme and Sub-themes

The theme of the seminar is “Institutional and Technological Interventions for Better Irrigation Management in the New Millennium” with three sub-themes as follows:

i) Participatory Irrigation Management – PIM frameworks and models, support systems and sustainability of new institutions, public-private partnership in irrigation management, better practices and lessons learned from interventions, constraints and opportunities;

ii) Irrigation Financing – irrigation subsidies, irrigation O&M cost recovery, best practices in irrigation cost recovery, charging and financial sustainability of new irrigation institutions;

iii) Resource Conserving Technologies – productivity enhancing and resource conserving technologies, high efficiency systems, other water saving techniques and practices.

Call for Papers/posters

Papers and posters are invited on the above three sub-themes (and may include related project/country case studies, success/failure stories, conceptual/ methodological approaches, frameworks and issues, experiences/lessons/guidelines).

Paper abstracts and poster proposals should be submitted to INPIM as soon as possible and no later than 20 September 2006. Abstracts must be submitted in the following format:

Length: no longer than one letter size page
Font: Time New Romans 12 point
Margins: 1 inch around the entire page

Paper accepted for presentation must be submitted by 30 October 2006. Papers must be submitted in the following format:

Length: no longer than 10 letter size pages
Font: Time New Romans 12 point
Margins: 1 inch around the entire page