Armenia: Irrigation Rehabilitation Project

The Water Management Section (WMS) of the Irrigation Rehabilitation Project of Armenia started its activities in July 1995. The Project is financed through a US$8 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development to the Government of Armenia.

Design Discussion Meeting with Farmers

The primary objective of the Project is to improve the socio-economic conditions of water users. For this purpose the approach of the project includes the following focal points:

1.Establishment and Capacity Building of Water Users' Associations (WUAs), which function democratically;

2.Rehabilitation and remodeling of the On-Farm Irrigation Network in the areas of newly established WUAs. This allows WUAs to use water more efficiently, distribute it transparently and equitably. An integrated part of the rehabilitation process is the participation of farmers in On-Farm Irrigation network design and construction activities. The improved network has sufficient water measurement structures and outlets. Consequently the members of the WUAs know how much water they use and what they are paying for.

3.The Water Management Section provides intensive training and technical assistance to WUAs in areas such as Financial Management, Decision Making and Conflict Resolution, Accounting, Water Measurement and Distribution and Planning. Practical manuals covering the above topics were developed and are now being used in the whole country.

General Assembly Annual Meeting Rehabilitated Water Outlet

Another main goal of the Water Management Section is the development of sustainable WUAs. Participation and empowerment is emphasized in all the projects' activities; from establishment to design, construction, training and monitoring. In addition, the project actively supports institutional development and feedback to the policy level.

Some of the results are:

WUAs have been trained in water measurement, legal aspects and water supply contracts. This has enabled them to deal on a more equal footing with the water supplier (OME).

There is an active participation of water users in decision making, which is a precondition for the independent operation and maintenance of the WUA irrigation network.

The water charge collection rate is higher in WUAs where the irrigation network was improved with assistance from the project and where practical training programs in water distribution were organized. Moreover, disputes between water users decreased, especially in areas with a reliable and adequate water supply in the main canal.

The intensive training program has had a positive impact on the skills of the WUA leaders and has increased the respect they receive from the WUA members.

The water supply reliability and quantity has improved and this has resulted in an improved product yield and quality. This has a direct impact on the income level, water users' payment capacity and water charge collection rates.

Ms. Emma Kajoyan
Monitoring & Development Specialist
Armenia Irrigation Rehabilitation Project
Yerevan, Armenia
irp@mbox.aics.amilink.net

Second National Seminar on PIM in Egypt

Egypt held its Second National Seminar on Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) in Alexandria, from November 15-18, 1998. The seminar centered around the formation of branch canal level Water User Associations (WUAs). Fifty participants from the Ministries of Public Works and Agriculture, among them the Chairman of the Irrigation Department, and the Chairman of the Agricultural Extension Sector, as well as farmers and community leaders attended.

The highlights of the Seminar were: (i) the field trip and exposure to farmers' views for a full day on Nov 15 at the start of the Seminar; (ii) the presentations on four Egyptian pilots in PIM supported by MPWWR and various donors in the delta, in Fayoum, and in drainage areas on Nov 16; and (iii) the spirited discussions among stakeholders -- staff of the IIP, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, and opinion leaders on next steps in Egypt on November 17, 1999.

The PIM seminar was the first occasion to provide for a good exchange of experience among the pilots. The presentations and subsequent discussions emphasized that there is considerable interest in management reforms in water service delivery that would combine water services and water quality improvement, user participation, and improved financing of O&M and capital costs. An outcome was a set of recommendations on the next steps to ensure sustainable management of branch canal operations, including the establishment of branch canal WUAs with a clear legal basis and a well-specified set of roles and responsibilities between the public and private sector in water and financial management. (Source of this report: Ashok Subramanian.)

Fourth National Seminar on PIM in India

The Seminar was held from January 19-23, 1999 and was considered a success by its participants because it appears to have achieved its main goal of motivating stakeholders to move forward in other Indian states and realize PIM reforms akin to the one implemented in Andhra Pradesh. The message of the seminar was clearly expressed by the keynote speaker, Peter Mollinga: ``Reform is inevitable. Everyone can act. No need to wait". This message was reinforced by the strong commitments made by the Governments of India and Andhra Pradesh, field visits, and excellent presentations by officials, NGOs and farmers' organizations and other program items. The seminar consisted of presentations on PIM policy in India, the PIM reform in AP, reports on PIM activities from other states, effects of PIM policies and post-transfer issues, presentations by researchers, and sessions with WUAs chairpersons and individual farmers. The program was videotaped by IndiaNPIM in order to be processed into training material.

The seminar was sponsored by the Ministry of Water Resources of the Government of India, and co-sponsored by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the IndiaNPIM chapter, the Ford Foundation and EDI. Participants came from 17 Indian states, not counting AP. Over 120 persons participated, nearly all from inside India. About 40 percent of the participants were representatives of WUAs including two women, and the others included senior officials, irrigation engineers, researchers, NGOs, and Bank staff. Notable speakers were: Mr. Nara Chandrababu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh; Mr. T. Nageswara Rao, Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, GOI; Mr Z. Hassan, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources GOI, Dr. Ujjwal Pradhan, Ford Foundation; Dr. V.S. Dinkar, Commissioner of CAD, MOWR, GOI; Mr. Anil C. Shah, Development Support Centre; Dr. Sitapathi Rao, IRDAS; Dr. C. Maloney, People's Resources Ltd., Dr. Peter Mollinga, Wageningen Agricultural University; Dr Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute.

First National Seminar on PIM in Nepal

Nepal's INPIM Chapter hosted Nepal's first national seminar on Participatory Irrigation Management from November 10-14, 1998 in conjunction with INPIM, the Department of Irrigation and Ford Foundation. The seminar was attended by 37 government officials (Departments of Irrigation 35, Department of Agriculture 2), 12 chairpersons of Water Users Associations, 11 national and international consultants, 2 representatives of the International Water Management Institute and staff of the Institute for Agricultural and Animal Science. It was held in Nepali, with simultaneous translation into English. The seminar was inaugurated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Water Resources and took place within the framework of the Nepal Irrigation Sector Project supervised. It boosted the reforms underway both through the papers presented and by the initiative taken by the WUA chairpersons to form a committee to establish a national federation of WUAs. 

Field visits were made to four schemes, three of them constructed by the Department of Irrigation and one built and managed by farmers. They were selected out of Nepal's 25 or so agency-managed schemes (of a total command area approximately 250,000 ha) because on these schemes farmer contributions to O&M costs are not symbolic but real and amount to 10 percent, 25 percent and 100 percent respectively. Each visit was headed by the chairperson of the scheme's apex organization. The fourth visit concerned the Chattis Mauja system that was built and is maintained entirely through farmer investment and is representative of Nepal's 750,000 ha of farmer managed irrigation. Major outcomes of these visits were evidence that farmers are indeed capable of organizing themselves for management, can bear the O&M cost even of pump irrigation and, if given full autonomy, as on the Chattis Mauja system, are capable of revising their own management practices to reduce internal transaction costs.

Vietnam

At the time this issue went to print, a workshop was being planned from May 10-15, 1999 in Da Nang. Participants will be representatives of lowland and upland Irrigation Management Companies and other stakeholder interests within the irrigation sector. The workshop is part of the process of preparing a project document on Participatory Irrigation Management and Irrigation Water Tariffs which in turn is a component of a program to support sustainable use of freshwater resources. We hope to be able to print a report in our next issue.

Yemen

From November 22-24, 1998, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation held Yemen's first PIM Seminar. The Seminar took place within the framework of the preparation of the Participatory Irrigation Project, which aims to transfer the management of Yemen's flood irrigation systems to farmers' associations. The Seminar was chaired by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and by the Assistant Deputy Minister for Irrigation and was attended by 16 farmer representatives, 12 agency staff and 9 Ministry staff (including one representative of the Ministry of Finance). On the Bank side, Messrs Christopher Ward, Principal Operations Officer at the Resident Mission, Usaid El-Hanbali, Task Manager at MNSRE, and Geert Diemer (WBI) participated. The seminar yielded two main results. One was the production of reports by Yemeni consultants that established the undisputed financial need to transfer management. The other was the unanimous recommendation that four pilot projects be started without waiting for the Irrigation Law to be adopted. The latter recommendation created space to move forward with the Participatory Irrigation Project that is under preparation.