Irrigation Canal Digging, Nepal
Irrigated Fields, NepalEquity, Irrigation
and Poverty: a DFID-funded Knowledge and Research (KaR) project,
implemented in India, Kyrgyzstan
and Nepal. Its aim was to identify methods for
strengthening water governance on large-scale irrigation, thereby
improving equity of access to water and enhancing
livelihoods.
Irrigation has many direct and indirect impacts on the livelihoods
of the poor and is important for poverty reduction. However, the
direct impact is severely reduced by poor management of water
distribution at a local level. Even within small areas some farmers
can get an adequate supply of water while others have insufficient
water.
One approach now widely adopted for solving this problem is to
transfer responsibility for management at a local level to the
users, often referred to as Participatory Irrigation Management
(PIM). Associations of water users (WUAs) are established, provided
with a reliable supply of water from a strengthened system for
managing the main canals, and expected to manage the water from
these canals. However, there are technical and institutional
reasons why distribution of water remains inequitable.
In this project we investigated how WUAs share water at local
level, evaluated what impact this has on the livelihoods of the
poor, and then helped the WUAs to improve distribution of water
amongst their members.
Through case studies we developed a systematic process for
strengthening local institutions, for improving their co-ordination
with external water supply agencies, and for helping them improve
the distribution of water. We enabled a social and political
dialogue amongst all classes of stakeholder (including women and
poor farmers as well as the rich male farmers and landlords) on the
nature of a ‘fair’ distribution and how the WUA can achieve this.
Through the study we have demonstrated improvements in water
distribution, social relations and livelihoods. We have shown that
it is not effective to address water distribution in isolation –
technical, social, institutional, and policy conditions which
affect water distribution must all be considered. Thus there are
four ‘key ingredients’ required to improve irrigation water
management:
- improved technical and management procedures, designed by
- well-informed, involved stakeholders, and implemented by
- a strong, ‘embedded’ and respected local institution, working
within
- an appropriate external environment, which gives WUAs the
necessary authority and support, and assures them of a predictable
water supply
