The Second National Seminar on PIM in Morocco

The First National Seminar on PIM in Morocco took place in Marrakech in 1995, and had as its objective to define the elements of a National PIM policy and strategy, as well as to develop a plan of action. A Second National Seminar, focusing on the same themes, was organized in Rabat on December 1 and 2, 1999, in order to:

Proceed with a PIM action plan for Regional Agricultural Development Authorities (or ORMVA's; Offices Regionals pour le Mise en Valeur Agricole)

Work out a clear vision with respect to PIM

Validate the PIM operational plans that were developed for the ORMVA's with the methodological assistance of two national consultants financed by the Development Management Office and the Irrigation Management Department.

Answer certain fundamental questions relating to the respective responsibilities of the ORMVA and the WUA for operation and maintenance, and the best means to support newly-created WUA's

Establish a plan implementing PIM on a national level

The Second National Seminar was an occasion for careful thought on what concrete steps should be taken to implement PIM. The method of implementing PIM must be chosen with regard to the future of both ORMVA's and WUA's. Specific goals include: increasing the price of irrigation water so that its price more accurately reflects its value; greater control by the WUA's of the volume of water withdrawals, controlling the cost of operation and maintenance of the hydraulic infrastructure, and ensuring the sustainability of the nation's water resources.

The principal conclusions and recommendations presented here are the result of workshops that took place during the seminar, and action plans prepared by ORMVA's before the seminar began.

I. The Opportunity for PIM

Since 1990, the State has chosen to institute and develop PIM in large irrigation schemes. The goal is to create a new form of irrigation management based on dialogue, negotiation, and task-sharing between the ORMVA's and farmers/WUA's. This new system of management engages farmers in the management of their own water resources and begins to transfer responsibility for water management to the users. During the transfer, the relationship between farmers and the Regional Agricultural Development Authority (ORMVA) is transformed. This relationship becomes less prescriptive than in the past. The user begins to cooperate with the Administration in a partnership, so that he fully and consciously assumes responsibility for irrigation development.

II PIM Action Plan and its Implications

At the time of the Second National Seminar on PIM, 357 WUA's have been created within large irrigation schemes, encompassing 108,523 users and covering 263.565 hectares. In the opinion of many observers, these associations have not achieved sufficient capability. Indeed, few of the WUA's are functional. These new WUA's are weak because sufficient human and material resources have not been mobilized for or by the WUA. Another factor is lack of a defined message from the government regarding the intended role of the WUAs, as well as well as difficulties encountered in defining the sharing of tasks and financial responsibilities between the ORMVA and the WUAs.

Except for on rare occasions, the creation of the WUA was initiated by the ORMVA. The operation of these WUA's was, for the most part, strongly supported by the technical and administrative apparatus of the administration. This situation runs counter to the principles of the PIM policies : unprompted creation of the WUA, and autonomous management, financing, and operation of the WUA. The ORMVA became involved in the affairs of the WUA for various reasons. Many of these reasons are related to the users themselves (absence of an associative spirit, mistrust of the WUA organization, unwillingness to assume additional responsibilities, few financial resources). Other reasons relate to the socio-economic environment in which one seeks to establish the WUA (land tenure, politicization and partisan influence). Others reasons can be identified at the level of the financial and material capacities of the WUA.

III Principal Recommendations

Throughout the seminar, participants noted with satisfaction that much knowledge has been acquired in the last few years while implementing PIM in the large irrigation schemes. However, they also noted that one still encounters many difficulties in implementing PIM, of a structural, organizational, financial, and legal-institutional nature. On the basis of this report, and in order to support and to reinforce the action of the ORMVA and WUA as regards PIM, the participants in the Second National Seminar proposed, discussed, and approved certain solutions related to the four major themes of the seminar, namely:

1. Promotion and the organization of the WUA

2. Financing of PIM activities

3. Task-sharing between the ORMVA and WUA

4. Legal and institutional framework of PIM

The varied and numerous proposed solutions are examined below.

1. The promotion and the organization of the WUA are strategic missions for which the ORMVA must be equipped with specialized technical and administrative structures, qualified personnel, and sufficient manpower and materials. Participants stressed the importance of training supervisory staff, as well as the farmers and members of the Board of Directors of the WUA. Others stressed the importance of monitoring and evaluation of the ORMVA as it implements PIM. The participants identified the following priorities:

Develop and implement training programs for each objective, responding to the actual needs of the various stakeholders, conducted in the trainee's own working environment.

Implementation of a program of monitoring and evaluation program that will provide valuable management information to the WUA and not merely to the Administration to exercise control over the WUA. An appropriately devised M& E program should enable the WUA to improve its management and provide valuable information to trainers and organizers.

2. In the unanimous opinion of seminar participants, insufficient financial resources of the WUA constitute a real handicap for the proper functioning of the WUA's. It will also prevent the WUA from effectively taking over responsibility for operation and maintenance tasks, which are to be transferred to or shared with WUA's. For this reason, the participants recommended that the ORMVA's contribute those financial resources which are specifically necessary to the activities of the PIM action plans, to the extent possible within the budgets of the ORMVA's. The operating costs of the WUA should, in the long term, be covered exclusively by the contributions of the water users. In regards to the ongoing operation and maintenance costs of the irrigation systems, it was recommended to transfer those funds to the WUA, which would ordinarily be spent, on management by the Administration.

Programs of rehabilitation, improvement, or expansion of the hydraulic infrastructure should be financed jointly by the ORMVA and WUA/Federation. The terms of this financial cooperation should adhere to an Agreement of Partnership decided upon by both parties. The financial contribution of the WUA would come from the sources of financing legally open to the WUA (annual and permanent contributions of members, public subsidies, bank loans, gifts, return from investments).

3. The division of irrigation management tasks between the ORMVA and WUA in several large irrigation schemes, is more planned than real. In other schemes, it remains limited to a few tasks that have been traditionally done the farmers, and often by pre-existing community organization that has been converted into a WUA. One of the explanations for this situation is the absence of a concrete framework for task sharing. Another reason lies in the lack of financing mechanisms on the part of the WUA, which makes it difficult for WUA's to obtain the funds necessary for executing the tasks they are expected to perform. As a result, the recommendation was made for the ORMVA to draw up specific plans for the task sharing, and programs for the execution of these task-sharing plans, for a specific time period, which must be negotiated and approved by mutual agreement by the ORMVA and WUA or Federation of WUA's concerned.

4. Lastly, even if the legal and institutional framework currently in place constitutes a generally adequate mechanism for the promotion and the development of PIM, seminar participants noted that they have far to go before the various stakeholders within the irrigation sector actually embrace this framework and make use of it operationally. Participants felt that the moment has come to formalize, at various levels, institutional arrangements for promoting, organizing, and monitoring and evaluation of WUA's. Toward this end, the participants in the seminar recommended organizing regional seminars. During regional seminars, stakeholders should present and discuss strategies and action plans for PIM in a locally appropriate context. It was also recommended to conduct regional training workshops on the legal and institutional aspects of PIM. Regarding the creation of administrative structures responsible for promoting, monitoring, and evaluating of the activities the WUA, it was strongly recommended to:

Create a ``central PIM agency" charged with formulating a national policy and strategy for PIM, and to support, coordinate, and evaluate the actions of the ORMVA's in regards to PIM;

At the level of the head offices of the ORMVA, to create a PIM Department attached to the SGRID/DGRID in order to carry out the PIM action plan

And local Service Centers located at the level of the Irrigation Management Office, to support and to accompany WUA's in their area of operation.

For the participants in the seminar, it goes without saying all of these new administrative structures should be equipped with adequate staff and materials for the action required by their goals. This can be accomplished in part by a simple redeployment of the human and material resources currently available at the level of the ORMVA and the Administration.

Mr. Mohammmed El Alaoui
Profesor at the National Agricultural College in Meknès

Ms. Nawal El Haouari
Head of the National PIM Program,
Irrigation Management and Development Authority