#28
THE INPIM E-NEWSLETTER
July 2003, Number 28
http://www.inpim.org
In This Issue:
News:
1.
2. World Water Crisis (BBC News) Website
3. Global Water Partnership presents “Ideas for Local Action in Water Management”
Upcoming Events:
4. The Water of Life - Peril and Promise in the 21st Century, 4 - 7 Sep 2003,
5.
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1.
(1999-2002) by Guy Alaerts of the World Bank,
Executive Summary
1. Background. The World Bank has assisted the Government of Indonesia (GoI) with the development, large-scale field piloting, and regulatory changes, in its irrigation reform since 1997*. The reform implies the following shifts:
- Authority and responsibility over water management and irrigation system management are decentralized from central-government agencies to kabupaten (District) governments. The District governments subsequently hand over governance, and responsibility, over water allocation and the use and improvements of the canal infrastructure to Federations of Water User (farmer) Associations (WUAFs), with one WUAF managing one system. The kabupaten Public Works Department remains responsible for large and complex components of the infrastructure and for assisting the WUAFs.
- WUAFs are large, autonomous and legalized entities. Different from the period before 1999, they now represent 2000-5000 farmer-irrigators, elect their leadership more democratically, and collect and retain fees. They are better able to pool resources and information, represent the scattered farmer-irrigators in negotiations, for example with the kabupaten Public Works Department, and take entrepreneurial initiatives.
- WUAFs are now to participate in the selection, design, implementation and supervision of any physical (rehabilitation) works. Typically, in the past only contractors carried out such works. Now, WUAFs can engage in construction themselves.
- Cost Sharing. Before the reform, nearly all scheme finance originated in the national budget. With the reform, WUAFs collect fees and organize contributions in the form of labor to (1) carry out all routine Operation and Maintenance, and (2) share the costs of all periodic repairs and maintenance, and of replacement. The kabupaten budget finances some infrastructure components that are very complex, and co-finances all other repairs and replacement on a “matching fund” basis. To this end the Kabupaten Irrigation Improvement Facility (KIIF) is established under an Irrigation Commission comprising kabupaten officials, WUAF representatives and NGOs. The KIIF provides, on a competitive basis, the kabupaten matching fund to WUAF larger repair, rehabilitation, improvement or replacement proposals which includes their financial contribution. For a transitional period the national government provides a subsidy to the KIIF
2. The First Phase of the Reform. Preliminary field piloting started in 1997 under a Bank-supported project on Java. The new institutional arrangement formally started with a Presidential Instruction in 1999, followed by a Government Regulation in 2001. These principles have been put into practice so far only in a cautious, staggered way through Bank-supported projects in around 50 kabupaten on Java, and since 2001 in another 25 outside Java. A total of around 300 WUAF have been established covering an irrigated acreage of 235,000 ha and representing approximately 670,000 farmer households. The reform implementation consists of a sequence of steps including substantial capacity building which each can take several months. The KIIF has not yet been fully introduced but only a pre-KIIF consisting of “stimulant funds” made available to WUAFs by the kabupaten. Thus, the period 1999-2002 can be considered the First Phase of the reform implementation in which only a part of the institutions has been put in place and no opportunity existed to properly consolidate the reforms and build up trust and confidence.
3. The study design. The study aims at assessing the preliminary impact of the first phase of the reform implementation on Java. Because of the magnitude of the country, the partial implementation of the reform, and methodological constraints it does not aim at making a quantitative assessment of “the” reform, rather it intends to provide an assessment of the trends. Measuring true impact of a change in agricultural practices involves substantial lag time as the quality of the reform implementation may not be adequate after 2-3 years across all involved kabupaten, and as the outcome of at least several planting seasons must be monitored. Also, the Java landscape imposes large variability among irrigation schemes and their potential performance (old/new schemes; soil differences; social characteristics of local communities, etc.). In addition, any outcomes of the reform are also influenced by other variables such as unusually dry years (El Niño), wet years (flood damage), irregularly occurring pests, abrupt changes in commodity prices, etc. Finally, for a quantitative study it would be necessary to compare with pre-reform baseline data, and these are largely inexistent. The study also aims at preparing for a longer-term monitoring and evaluation effort.
4. The study was held over 4 months late 2002 and early 2003 by the Universities and NGOs Consortium on Water Resources. It applied PRA, interviews and household surveys. Household surveys were semi-quantitative and were held in 12 kabupaten in those schemes that were supported by the Bank-supported projects which were the only ones to implement the reform. PRA and interviews were held in an additional 9 kabupaten. The kabupaten are representative of Java’s provinces and conditions. For the survey 2 irrigation areas were selected per kabupaten that are considered best and worst performers. Within each area a stratified sample of 120 respondents was selected to represent head- and tail-end and mid-scheme irrigators (tail-end irrigators receive the least water and have the highest proportion of poor), and women (total number of respondents around 2300). The survey also checked the hypothesis that more success was achieved in those areas that received special project attention and support (“laboratories”, which were established in 4 kabupaten). Finally, the results were also compared with a separate June/July 2002 audit on the technical quality of a representative sample of physical works carried out under the project, partly with and partly without WUAF participation.
5. Conclusions. The attachment provides the main results, all (except Figure 10) presented in the form of percentage respondents stating or demonstrating a particular change between the post-reform period and that before reform. The main conclusions are:
- The conclusions are internally consistent and mutually supportive. They also concur with the results of the audit on the technical quality of works (Figure 10), and field observations during Bank/GoI supervision missions. The consistency between outputà outcomeà impact suggests that the collected data indeed capture to the pre- and post-reform conditions, so that, for example, “increased income” can be imputed primarily to the change between before 1998 and after 2001, and not to the overall economic improvement that took place between 1998/1999 (economic crisis) and 2002.
- No significant difference in outcome was detected between the “laboratory” irrigation areas, and those – in the same or other kabupaten – that received lower levels of support. This confirms the strength of the local demand for, and the replicability of, the reform.
- The Reform, based on decentralization in the water sector, led to benefits. This was facilitated by the general administrative and fiscal decentralization that started in 2000.
- Governance has significantly improved at the level of the kabupaten as well as inside the WUAF. Overall, transparency, and public scrutiny of government decisions and actions (such as award of contracts), have substantially improved. Partnerships between stakeholders and local governments work.
- This in turn has led to better targeted investments, major savings in expenditures, and higher sustainability of both infrastructure and water resource use. Some of these savings accrued immediately and could be detected in the survey, but others will appear only in the long run, for example, those associated with better-quality physical works avoiding premature rehabilitation (poor quality of works in the past, a persistent problem, led to an average annuitized loss over 20-30 years of approximately $50/ha.yr).
- WUAFs are gradually developing their skills, capacities, as well as their internal governance quality. They now form the largest and strongest non-governmental groups in many rural areas. The WUAFs and local governments increasingly are capable to jointly address the issues regarding irrigation and water management. Levels of conflict over access to water, earlier endemic, have drastically dropped. In general, this partnership over water management proved to be an important vehicle to spur development of human capital.
- WUAFs collect increasing amounts of member contributions for activities in the secondary and primary canals and for emergency purposes. These contributions are paid by land-owners as well as by tenants. They increasingly take the form of financial contributions.
- WUAF members report increased overall productivity from their land due to better and more equitable water allocation. (Those reporting a lower water availability or related dissatisfaction tended to be farmers in the head-end of the schemes, i.e., those who were likely to stand to lose some of their old privileges). This led to higher incomes, also for the poor in the irrigation area.
- A rural environment emerges in which (1) irrigation water supply proves substantially more reliable and secure for the next planting season as well as for the further future, and (2) the associations feel truly empowered to manage the water for the sake of their own income, and are relatively free from undue interference by government, which increases their confidence in the future. The associations start taking entrepreneurial initiatives regarding cropping and post-harvest activities. Overall, farmer-irrigators confirm they feel less constrained by vulnerability and risks, see new opportunities for business, and show greater willingness to invest in the future.
* Java Irrigation Improvement and Water Management Project (JIWMP, 1995-2002),
A complete version of this article with figures will be posted to the new INPIM website at the end of August 2003.
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2. World Water Crisis (BBC News) Website
According to this BBC News report, the world's supply of fresh water is running out. Already one person in five has no access to safe drinking water. The linked page includes a world map with highlighted regions; click on any one of these "flash points" to read about some of the world's crisis spots. The site also links to several other archived BBC news reports, including one on the "Dawn of a Thirsty Century." After accessing this "overview", check the box on the right side, which links to other regional case studies.
To access the site visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2000/world_water_crisis/default.stm
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3. Ideas Book for Local Action in Water Management
The Global Water Partnership presents “Ideas for Local Action in Water Management”, the second in a series of Ideas-books. This volume provides readers with over 100 examples from current initiatives in local water resources planning, water saving, safeguarding water quality locally, clean-up programs, promoting transparency, and more. The book brings together ideas based on activities undertaken by local government, civil society, and the private sector all over the world.
Copies of the book (102 pages) or of the earlier volume “Ideas for Water Awareness Campaigns” can be ordered free of charge through the GWP Secretariat, Hantverkargatan 5, SE-112 21 Stockholm, Sweden, e-mail: gwp@gwpforum.org, tel: +46 (0)8 562 51 900.
Both Ideas-books are available online as pdf files in the GWP web library, through www.gwpforum.org
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4. The Water of Life - Peril and Promise in the 21st Century, 4 - 7 Sep 2003,
The United Nations has proclaimed 2003 as the International Year of Freshwater, encouraging governments, businesses, and activists to increase awareness of the vital importance of sustainable freshwater management, protection, and use. To this end, Omega and Resurgence magazine are presenting this three-day event with an emphasis on finding hopeful and creative solutions to the world's freshwater crisis. Political and social activists, teachers, business people, health-care professionals, scientists, religious leaders, and others concerned with environmental issues are invited to attend.
Faculty: Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Satish Kumar, Winona LaDuke, Ralph Nader, Andrew Revkin, Anita Roddick, Kirkpatrick Sale, Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., John Todd.
Organized by: Omega Institute, Cosponsored with Resurgence magazine
With support from: Lifebridge Foundation, E. F. Schumacher Society, International Forum on Globalization. Costs:US$ 375.00 (EUR 332.00).
On-line registration and payment required at: http://www.eomega.org/omega/registration/?action=confirm&type=workshop&id=dd669ef412d5b93ba623ba4b97022395
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5.
The Dushanbe Fresh Water Forum is opened for participation by all international, public organizations, and initiative groups willing to take part.
The outcomes and perspectives of global and regional significance will be discussed at the plenary sessions on the following topics:
· Follow up to the Millennium Development Goals and Johannesburg Summit Outcomes: Global Perspectives;
· Regional Perspectives on Water Resources Management.
As the Forum priority directions at the sectional level the following topics will be discussed:
· Water and Interstate Cooperation;
· Water, Health and Sanitation;
· Water Conservation and Productivity in Agriculture;
· Information exchange for water partnership strengthening.
Reports and recommendations for solution of problems will be key outcomes of discussions in the working groups.
It is proposed to conduct also technical side events, which will be hosted by international and public organizations (UNDP, WSSCCM UNEP, GEF, SDC, IFAS, etc.) on the following topics:
· Water management;
· WASH Initiative;
· Gender mainstreaming in water management;
· Transboundary water management;
· Natural resources management in the community level: experience of regions;
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· Integrated water resources management.
During the Forum the "Water World" Exhibition will be organized, where new technologies and achievements in the field of effective and rational use of freshwater resources in countries of CAR and other countries of the world will be presented to participants and guests. The "Water World" Exhibition will be an information campaign to increase public awareness and knowledge of water resources as well as threats related to their irrational use.
Plenary and thematic sessions, ministerial segment, special presentations, excursions, "Water World" Exhibition and other cultural events will be conducted during these days. Working languages for the meeting will be Russian and English.
Organizers: Government of
Contact Name: Buzurukov J.J
E-mail: waterforum@tojikiston.com
URL: http://www.freshwaterforum.org
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The contents of the INPIM E-Newsletter do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management or the opinions of INPIM leadership.
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Last modified 19-03-2004 01:01 PM