PIM Training Course in USA

The International Irrigation Center of Utah State University will offer a 6-week training course on Irrigation System Management Transfer and the Organization of Water Users. The course is scheduled for Aug. 25 to Oct. 6 and will include field visits to sites in Utah, Nevada, and California. The following information was provided by the course instructor, Dr. Humberto Yap Salinas: 

``The course is designed to assist administrators and irrigation professionals from governmental institutions as well as private organizations to be involved in on-going irrigation system transfer operations....The lectures, discussions, case studies, and application principles will represent a variety of physical and social conditions from different countries. Topics covered include: Models and Approach in the Transfer Process; Pre-conditions for Transfer and an Enabling Environment; The Yap/USU Model of Management Transfer; Economic Analysis of the Transfer Process; Changes in Rural Society.

For additional information, you can visit the following internet Web site: http://www.engineering.usu.edu/Departments/iic/iichome0.html

Or you can contact Dr. Yap Salinas directly at: International Irrigation Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322; Fax: (801) 797-1248; Tel: (801-797-2800).

Training Materials Available
The World Bank has prepared a set of three documents which provide a valuable reference for PIM training programs:

Water User Organizations and Irrigation O&M: Financial Aspects, by Geoffrey Spencer and Ashok Sumbramanian;

Water User Organizations: Legal Aspects, by Salman Salman;

Water User Organizations: Organizational Aspects, by Ashok Subramanian and Kelly Reed.

To obtain a copy of these documents, please contact INPIM.

INPIM Fellowship Program

Since one of the purposes of INPIM is to encourage the interaction of PIM experts, a program has been set up to sponsor participation in seminars and conferences relevant to PIM. Under this program, one Pakistan NGO leader, Mr. Mohammad Sharif, was able to attend the second national seminar on PIM in India in June 1995. His contribution was very much appreciated by the Indian participants in bringing a fresh perspective from his own country experience. Similarly, four INPIM members attended the national seminar held in Morocco in November 1995. These were Mr. Nadim Drahor and Mr. Ibrahin Sahin, from Turkey, and Mr. Gustavo Jimenez and Mr. Jesus Torres-Mendez from Mexico. Their participation in the Morocco seminar was made possible through financial support from the Moroccan government, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank. Under the INPIM Fellowship program, the host country agrees to meet local costs, and the Fellow agrees to provide his/her time at no cost. The role of INPIM is to identify suitable experts and then to help arrange funding through a donor agency to cover the air tickets.

PIM Seminar in Turkey

The Economic Development Institute (EDI) of the World Bank and the Turkey General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI) will co-sponsor the second international seminar on participatory irrigation management in Antalya, Turkey, from April 10-17, 1996. The seminar will provide an opportunity for irrigation professionals from various countries to share experiences on PIM while learning first hand about Turkeyís new program to transfer major elements of its irrigation sector to user management.

The transfer program in Turkey is one of the very few cases in the world of large-scale irrigation management transfer. Since 1954, Turkey has had a legal framework that has allowed for the transfer of irrigation management in small schemes from the Department of Hydraulic Works (DSI) to associations of water users In 1993 the government of Turkey revised its policies to encourage management transfer in larger schemes as well. The policies have generated strong demand by farmer groups requesting management transfer to their control, and more than half the countryís 1.5 million hectares of large-scale systems has already been transferred. The approach being pursued in Turkey offers a learning opportunity for other countries considering management reform in the irrigation sector.

National Seminar in Egypt

A National Seminar on Participatory Management of Irrigation and Drainage Systems will be held in Cairo, Egypt from March 9-12. The seminar is being co-sponsored by the Ministry or Public Works and Water Resources (MPWWR), and the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. The seminar will bring together government officials from the MPWWR, the Ministry of Agriculture, and other agencies, along with farmer representatives, NGOs, university experts and donor representatives to discuss the current status of PIM in Egypt and to develop an indicative action plan for continuing and expanding the implementation of participatory irrigation and drainage management. Two foreign experts, one from Pakistan and one from Indonesia, will also be invited under the INPIM Fellow program.