Institutions and transition: does a better institutional environment make water users associations more effective in Central Asia?

Water Policy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Gunchinmaa ◽  
M. Yakubov
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Irrigation Performance ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Internal Operations ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Water Users Associations

Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a widely recognized management framework that is currently being adopted throughout post-Soviet Central Asia to inform and guide national water sector reforms, and to keep up with the pace of the faster moving land reforms taking place in the region. With hydrographic principles and public participation being at the core of this framework, the process in the region has started with the reform of on-farm irrigation systems by creating water users associations (WUAs), transferring irrigation management to them and introducing irrigation service fees. This paper draws on the experiences, over four years, of three study WUAs set up in the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Aiming to explore the differences in institutional environment and arrangements in these three countries for establishing WUAs, as well as assessing WUA performances (particularly from users' perspectives), the study reveals that it is not only the newly-established institutional arrangements in the irrigation sector but also their internal operations, coupled with other important factors such as size of area farmed, overall viability of agriculture and a wider economic context that crucially determine overall irrigation performance.

Adapting to water scarcity: constraints and opportunities for improving irrigation management in Khorezm, Uzbekistan

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Tischbein ◽  
A. M. Manschadi ◽  
C. Conrad ◽  
A.-K. Hornidge ◽  
A. Bhaduri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Economic Incentive ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Flexible Modeling ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Sustainable Resource Use ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

Like many irrigation schemes in Central Asia, the one in Khorezm faces a two-fold challenge: on the one side, the severe problems inherited from the past need to be remedied and on the other side, the rising supply–demand gap driven by sharpening competition for water and climate change must be dealt with. Located in the lower part of the Amu Darya basin, Khorezm irrigation and drainage scheme is particularly vulnerable to supply–demand gaps. Promising solutions towards adaptation comprise modified strategies of land and water use towards higher efficiency and flexibility in combination with measures to lessen the constraints of the system itself, which was initially designed for the management of a few, large and uniform production units and not for many diverse and small units. Solutions consist of flexible, modeling-based approaches, re-arranging institutional settings and establishing economic incentive systems. Flexible modeling allows an integrated use of surface and groundwater resources avoiding or minimizing the impact of water stress on yield. Institutional settings strengthen the position of water users via improved participation and transparency of processes in Water Consumers Associations (WCAs). Economic measures support sustainable resource use strategies and improve the functioning of WCAs. The findings could be extrapolated to other regions of Central Asia with similar conditions and challenges.

Conclusions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia M. Gouda
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Irrigation Water Management ◽  
Water Users ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Irrigation Infrastructure ◽  
Water Users Associations

This chapter outlines the general conclusions of the research and the book based on the analysis of the four case study areas in Egypt. It also provides the basis for thoughts about a more realistic and critical consideration of social capital theories into the mainstream of community-based natural resource management in general, and irrigation management transfer in particular. The research undertaken for this book show that it was worthwhile to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for the analysis of social capital to use in place of Putnam's theory and approach, which romanticize traditional village organizations and cannot satisfactorily explain the complexity observed in the case study areas. The findings also provided key lessons to keep in mind when establishing and supporting water users' associations (WUA) at the level of tertiary and branch canals. Among these are the impact of improvements to irrigation infrastructure on farmers' behavior and the functioning of WUAs on the tertiary canal, namely that reducing face-to-face interactions reduces the creation of social capital, social control, and collective action; and that cooperation is not only dependent on the availability of water but is also affected by the autonomy of the irrigation water management field and the assignment of water rights.

How does participatory irrigation management work? A study of selected water users' associations in Anand district of Gujarat, western India

Water Policy ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonal Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Western India ◽  
Financial Viability ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Participatory Irrigation Management ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Management Work ◽  
Water Users Associations

Measuring the performance of water users' associations (WUAs) is a complex task. Literature associates a large number of parameters with their success and failure. This paper presents an in-depth study of two WUAs that are considered to be functioning well by the irrigation department in Anand, India. It discusses some new issues and innovations being tried out in Anand, namely: (1) incentives and disincentives for WUA membership; (2) outsourcing of irrigation service fees (ISF) collection by the WUAs; and (3) expansion of the scope of WUA activities beyond irrigation, with a potential impact on financial viability. The paper discusses degrees of success in WUAs in this context and tries to draw out lessons that may be widely replicable.

scholarly journals The User and the Association: Neglecting Household Irrigation as Neglecting Household Well-Being in the Creation of Water Users’ Associations in the Republic of Tajikistan

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Development Institutions ◽  
Neoliberal Development ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Diverse Groups ◽  
Water Users Associations

Development initiatives often cite Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) as fundamental to water governance reform or the broad process of decentralizing responsibilities for management, supply and delivery. But the label of “WUA” indicates little about those who take on these duties as association members, suggesting all who use water in pursuit of life or livelihood are eligible to participate and benefit through collective action. Grounded in the belief that participatory projects can equitably empower and distribute resources, the enthusiastic introduction of WUAs continues despite critique that anticipated outcomes are overstated. Since borders opened to neoliberal development institutions in the 1990s, WUAs have been created throughout post-Soviet Central Asia. Yet, there has been limited reflection on how associations’ design and operation interact with physical or social structures to effect resource access across diverse groups. Drawing on fieldwork in Tajikistan, I demonstrate how WUAs reproduce exclusionary outcomes by requiring members to possess farmland in turn threatening rural food security. Held by a minority, farmland dedicated to commercial production stands in contrast to ubiquitous kitchen gardens, where crops sown for self-consumption form a buffer against hunger in the wake of labor migration and income inconsistency. Households’ inability to become members undermines their claim to water and voice in decision-making, ultimately constraining access to irrigation and a robust harvest.

Institutional analysis of irrigation management in Haiti: a case study of three farmer managed schemes

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelet Boyer ◽  
Stijn Speelman ◽  
Guido Van Huylenbroeck
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Clear Vision ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Water Users Associations

In the late 1990s, like many other developing countries, Haiti started a process of devolving responsibilities over irrigation scheme management to water users’ associations. In this paper, a three-step methodology for institutional analysis is applied to investigate the functioning of this new setting in Haiti, using three irrigation schemes managed by farmers as case studies. First, the institutional structures are described using an adapted version of the Institutional Decomposition and Analysis framework. Secondly, the efficiency of the institutional structures is assessed against a set of criteria for sustainable management. The combination of these two steps allows the identification of strengths and weaknesses, and leads to the third and final step of formulation of practical recommendations. Results indicate that authorities in Haiti had a clear vision of the reform process which was translated in sound objectives, a comprehensive reform methodology and efforts to revise the legal framework. However, the outcome of the reform process has been negatively affected by a perceived organizational deficiency, and by the absence of a functioning water pricing system and of clearly defined and enforceable water rights. Finally, similar to the situation in many other countries, the major constraint faced by the established water users’ associations appears to be financial self-sufficiency.

Farmer-led Water User Associations in Agricultural Water Management

2018 ◽  
pp. 223-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rami Zurayk ◽  
Azza Dirar
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Participatory Approaches ◽  
Water User Associations ◽  
Agricultural Water Management ◽  
Water User ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Precious Resource ◽  
Implementation Experience

Since agriculture consumes the largest share of the world’s water, farmers undoubtedly play an instrumental role in the management of this precious resource. As such, various policy approaches have sought to engage farmers in the management of water for irrigation. There is much literature on policy approaches that devolve irrigation management to farmers through organizing them into ‘water user associations’ and mobilizing them into cooperative water resource management. When the implementation experience and success of these approaches are assessed, the results show a great variation in experience with overall limited success. The key challenges stem from various assumptions underlying the policy approaches, namely the way in which farmers are conceptualized as a homogenous group of ‘water users’. Cooperative and participatory approaches to natural resource management cannot be institutionally manufactured without addressing key political ecological realities and the wider contexts in which ‘resource users’ operate.

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