International Water Management Institute

WUAs in public irrigation schemes: A review for the NENA region

Dr. Edwin Rap and Dr. Francois Molle

FAO Land and Water Days 15th-18th December 2013

Amman, Jordan

T10 Session

Presentation Abstract

This presentation investigates the role and importance of Water User Associations (WUAs) in

public large-scale irrigation schemes of the NENA region. The policies of Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) and Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) of the late 80s and 90s emerged in a neo-liberal context of structural adjustment and broke away from the idea

that water has to be exclusively managed by the state and its institutions. Donors and governments supported the transfer of management responsibilities to farmers and their organizations, with the aim to improve the accountability of the irrigation service to farmers, make this service more cost-effective, motivate farmers to invest more in maintaining

irrigation systems and, ultimately, make irrigation systems more productive and physically sustainable.

The study that was commissioned by IFAD takes stocks on the experience with WUA development in the NENA region. The study was based on a large literature review on PIM/IMT in this region. The presentation thus briefly reviews evidence on the performance of

WUAs, identifies key internal and external factors, and then dwells on the policy process itself. Overall, few WUAs in the region can be said to be active and performing as planned. Reviewing the performance of WUAs in their three main responsibility domains (water

management, maintenance and financial administration) was disappointing. Participation has been in most cases limited, and the physical and financial sustainability of both hydraulic infrastructures and Associations are not forthcoming. Some countries were found to have

experiences with the transfer of certain responsibilities, although o ften under heavy intervention of externally funded projects or loan agreements.

In line with earlier studies, we found context-specific factors positively correlated with effectiveness, such as the size of systems, positive incentives to both farmers and WUAs staff, leadership and strong social capital, administrative, managerial and accounting skills, or

the provision by the WUA of a diversity of services. PIM/IMT are heavily focused on the new roles that farmers or water users should be fulfilling but the predictability of supply to the different user groups is key to enabling them to organize and manage water at the lower

levels. Instances where management transfers have resulted in commitments from the agency, and therefore in creating a degree of accountability, are very rare in the region.