Farmer meeting in Osh to discuss some proposed
innovations on water management, KyrgyzstanWe have been
involved in many of the world’s major irrigation developments over
the past eighty years, encompassing all forms of irrigation and
rural development. In the last decade alone, we have been engaged
in policy and planning studies, implementation and management of
irrigation in 30 countries.
Our well-established technical skills are closely matched with a
sensitivity to agricultural, social, environmental, institutional
and economic issues to develop sustainable irrigation as part of a
coherent approach to improving rural livelihoods. The scale of our
work ranges from rehabilitation of 600,000 ha irrigation schemes in
the Nara canal command in Pakistan down to individual tubewells
serving 4 ha in Nepal.
More important than the scale of the projects is their diverse
nature. We are at the forefront of developments in participatory
irrigation management through work on management of large-scale
irrigation and drainage in Pakistan, development of economic and
regulatory policy in Bangladesh, as well as on a smaller scale in
Indonesia and Egypt. We work with water users to ensure that
irrigation is developed and managed to suit their livelihoods
strategies, and takes full account of their diverse interests. A
small selection of our recent projects includes:
- Kunduz River Basin Management Programme, Afghanistan
- Alatona Irrigated Agriculture Project, Mali
- Drainage, Irrigation and Wetlands Improvement Project,
Uzbekistan
- Drainage and Irrigation Systems Rehabilitation Project.
Guyana
- Emergency Flood Rehabilitation Project, Cambodia
- Rehabilitation of Southern Ghors Irrigation Project,
Jordan
- Rajapur Irrigation Rehabilitation, Nepal
Irrigation can have an important role in poverty reduction, but
this is only achieved if projects are well-managed and target the
interest of vulnerable groups. We have undertaken a series of
research studies, funded by DFID, to examine ways of improving
irrigation management with the specific objective of ensuring that
poor water users get reliable access to water – for whatever
purpose they require it – and can use this to improve their
livelihoods.
Read about our work around the world
