INTER-INSTITUTIONAL TRAINING ON IRRIGATION IN THE ANDES

INTRODUCTION

For many rural inhabitants of the Andean mountains of Ecuador, irrigation constitutes a central theme for their productive system and society. This peasant and indigenous population consists for the most part of small land owners with unleveled land. They not only support their families and communities but also provide for the majority of the country's nutrition needs. The scarcity and irregularity of precipitation, the lack of water accessible for irrigation, and the technical-geological complexity of irrigation all demand that peasants handle irrigation as an art and relate it to the conditions of the area.

These challenges require an ability to reach agreements, work collectively, and form an effective apparatus of community management. Individual families or communities cannot manage and sustain irrigation systems alone under such adverse conditions. The agreements, local rules and institutions that have emerged and that continue to develop, provide support for hydraulic identities and normative systems that may keep the infrastructure safe and sustainable.

Construction and rehabilitation of irrigation systems may improve the productive and economic base of rural areas as well as sustain grassroots organizations and local cultures. A fundamental prerequisite is that irrigation professionals know how to generate a dialogue with the users and understand the logic of the technical, organizational, cultural, legal and sociopolitical aspects of rural and indigenous irrigation. To advise on irrigation in the Andes, it is necessary that they comprehend not only the principal technical and social aspects but also how they interact.

The training of professionals in Andean Ecuador however, has been problematic for training centers transmit primarily one irrigation technique. It gives graduates only a partial vision of what irrigation is about. In response, several institutions and professionals started the ``Programa de Capacitación en Riego Andino" (Andean Irrigation Training Program) under the premise that irrigation is a social construct. Following an innovative methodology, this program offers an alternative to the training of professionals of various disciplines. The program, which started in 1996, is coordinated by the Head Office of Ecuadorian Agricultural Services, or Central Equatoriana de Servicios Agrícolas (CESA) in the framework of the Consortium for the capacity building in the sustainable management of Renewable Natural Resources CAMAREN.

METHODOLOGIES AND OBJECTIVES

The objective is to ``train community advisors in the technical, organizational and socioeconomic aspects of rural irrigation and permit them to develop an integrated vision of Andean irrigation so they can facilitate development processes in the Andean context." The target group consists of people with mid- and upper-level education who work with rural Andean irrigation systems. This group includes not only civil technicians and agronomists, but also sociologists, gender specialists, and rural leaders. This diversity stimulates the learning process of the reality of rural irrigation and promotes interdisciplinary discussion. 

An important aspect of the program is its support by various institutions related to irrigation: NGOs, rural organizations, state agencies, and universities among others. These institutions offer teaching topics and receive them as well, thereby highlighting each other's respective strengths and weaknesses. Such institutional `hybridization' strengthens the knowledge of each and maintains inter-institutional collaboration.

The program consists of nine sequential modular events throughout the year. They take place across the country near sites that are visited during the event. The module lasts an average of five days and is followed by another one after about a month. Taken together, the nine modules offer an integrated vision of Andean irrigation because technical and social aspects are combined. Central themes are: design, construction and participatory management; rural production and agrarian systems under irrigation and hydraulic works; irrigation and types of relations; strengthening of rural organizations; and popular communication methodologies.

Each module is organized and presented by a different institution. Modules are taught in conjunction with a field trip to the host institution's irrigation system. Through this ``mobile" training system, participants are exposed to a variety of systems, strategies and irrigation practices. In addition, each host institution must systemize its irrigation experiences – prior to the participants' visit – to prepare a coherent discussion base for the theme of its module. In this way, the valuable experiences of the participants simultaneously benefits irrigation projects.

Each module develops in two phases:

The first phase starts with the exchange of observations and experiences in the irrigation systems previously systemized; it continues with a process of theoretical revision and methodological instrument management; it is reinforced with practices in specific projects; and it culminates with an evaluation. In this phase, ``learning by doing" methodology and ``action–reflection" are fundamental.

The second phase develops in the work (project) sites of the participants, through inter-modular application plans. This output converts into input for the next module. The inter-modular application plans are agreed upon with the institution directors that sponsors the participant, with the participant and with the training coordinators.

When the program is finalized, students present monographs that include their inter-modular applications and their intervention proposals. In this way, theory is linked to the work practice of each participant. In addition, through the visits, presentations, and support materials, the experience of rural workers' is incorporated as well as those of specialized professionals' and students.

EXPERIENCES AND CONCLUSIONS

The participation of professionals with different areas of expertise and of rural leaders enriched the program and it has been decided that the new cycle should include an equal diversity of participants. Through the first training cycle, thirty three ``Andean Irrigation Advisors" have been trained, and the program opened up possibilities so that the graduates may continue to explore the topics covered in the training program. It is concluded also that the ideal group size does not exceed 25 so that the learning and debate process can be dealt with in depth.

There is a need in the various institutions for a group of instructors who can go into irrigation issues in depth. Graduates from the first cycle are a group of potential instructors. Their involvement would guarantee the program's continuity.

The first program established channels for the exchange of experience and for the discussion of themes such as water legislation and irrigation transfer. It also promoted other forums for debate on irrigation thanks to the participation of 18 institutions and the contribution of professionals on different levels. The primary intention is that the training program be sustained without external support after a few years.

Much remains to be done. However, the proposition that Andean irrigation is a technical and social construct that should be based on rules, capabilities and experience of the indigenous community and that requires an intimate collaboration between disciplines, has gradually inserted itself on various levels, that of the participants but also that of the project directors and directors of the institutions, in certain state agencies and in some educational establishments. 

By Edmundo Narváez and Rutgerd Boelens

Edmundo Narváez is the principal Andean irrigation consultant and employee of CESA, coordinating institution of irrigation training program of CAMAREN.

Rutgerd Boelens is a teaching researcher in the Irrigation Department of Wageningen Agricultural University and advised in the formulation of the mentioned training program. For more information, please contact: Rutgerd.Boelens@USERS.TCT.WAU.NL.