This project aims to understand water governance processes in the Volta Basin across Ghana and Burkina Faso. It will identify opportunities for managing rainwater and small reservoirs at the watershed level through a participatory modeling approach. The project will develop a framework integrating biophysical modeling with local socio-environmental understanding in two pilot watersheds. Preliminary results include biophysical modeling, tools developed for multi-stakeholder platforms, and analysis of actors and their roles in watershed governance in Burkina Faso and Ghana. The project seeks to provide input to water policies and practices through a participatory, adaptive approach.

1. V4: Sub-basin management and governance
of rainwater and small reservoirs
AN OVERVIEW
CPWF Volta Science Week
Ouagadougou
3-5 July 2012
Jean-Philippe Venot, IWMI
William’s Daré, CIRAD

2. Project V4: Re-setting the scene
• Project Lead: IWMI
Expertise in
• Social sciences (sociology/geography)
• Modeling
• Policy making
• Project partners:
– SP/PAGIRE (MAH, BF);
– Water Resources Commission (WRC);
– CIRAD UPR Green;
– Water Resources Institute (CSIR);
– University of Development Studies- FIDS
• Duration: Oct 2010-Dec 2013
• Budget: $875,000

3. Project V4: What we signed up for
This project aims at understanding the processes that govern IWRM policy-making,
practices and research in the Volta Basin (Ghana and Burkina Faso)

4. Project V4: What we signed up for
This project aims at understanding the processes that govern IWRM policy-making,
practices and research in the Volta Basin (Ghana and Burkina Faso) […] This will be done to
identify demand-driven opportunities for the management and the governance of
rainwater and small reservoirs at the watershed (sub-basin) level.

5. Project V4: What we signed up for
This project aims at understanding the processes that govern IWRM policy-making,
practices and research in the Volta Basin (Ghana and Burkina Faso) […] This will be done to
identify demand-driven opportunities for the management and the governance of
rainwater and small reservoirs at the watershed (sub-basin) level. [To do so, the project
will] devise, and assess the prospects offered by, a participatory modeling framework to
steer IWRM practices in two pilot watersheds. The participatory modeling framework will
integrate expert biophysical modeling with locally-defined understanding of the socioenvironmental system.

6. Project V4: What we signed up for
This project aims at understanding the processes that govern IWRM policy-making,
practices and research in the Volta Basin (Ghana and Burkina Faso) […] This will be done to
identify demand-driven opportunities for the management and the governance of
rainwater and small reservoirs at the watershed (sub-basin) level. [To do so, the project
will] devise, and assess the prospects offered by, a participatory modeling framework to
steer IWRM practices in two pilot watersheds. The participatory modeling framework will
integrate expert biophysical modeling with locally-defined understanding of the socioenvironmental system. This will provide the basis for identifying desirable rainwater and
small reservoirs governance options at the watershed level [and] fine tune IWRM
processes to local needs and demands […] this research project will lead to enhance
impacts of on-going IWRM policy initiatives in the Volta basin.
To understand impacts,
one needs to understand how they come into being (processes)
Main target groups (OLM/OTIB):
1. IWRM Policy makers at national level
2. Local planners and users

7. Objective and Approach
Understand and support IWRM policy initiatives via a participatory
approach based on a Companion Modeling methodology
•
•
•
•
Dialogue for water resources governance
Scale of study: the watershed (2,000-3,000 km2)
Discussing scenarios and impacts to highlight interactions
High-level of stakeholder engagement
Promoting multi-level
interactions for IWRM at the
watershed level through a
participatory approach
National decision makers consider
local points of view and perceptions
Local actors are aware of broader
issues, policies and strategies
Participatory support for IWRM
implementation

8. Methods
Answering a question collectively
Conceptual models and role playing game
Collective identification of actors, resources and their
dynamics through multi-level consultation
Collective identification of socioecological dynamics
Biophysical model
(SWAT et WEAP)

9. Underlying principles
• Participatory Action Research to support natural resources
management and land use planning
• Recognizing the legitimacy and uncertainties of ALL stakeholders’
perceptions and representations
• Clarifying implicit hypothesis (world views)
• Amendments and progressive validation of an hybrid and dynamic
representation (the model) through scenario simulation
• Repetitive back-and-forth between the ‘reality’ and the ‘model’ and
between ‘knowledge generation’ and ‘decision-making’
In short: A practical and research-oriented example of
ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

10. 2 countries, 2 case studies
Burkina Faso
Diffuse mosaic landscape
No ‘hot spots’
Ghana
A ‘hot-line’: the White Volta

11. Activities to date
• Institutional and policy baseline (Burkina Faso)
• Institutional and policy baseline (Ghana, in progress)
• Biophysical modeling of pilot watershed in their sub-basins (SWAT/WEAP, in progress)
• Multi-stakeholder platforms activities in Burkina Faso and Ghana (in progress)
• Development of a participatory modeling platform (in progress)
•
•
•
•
Local soil and water management practices in Ghana: A diagnosis
The role of traditional authorities in natural resources management in Ghana
The role of district assemblies in natural resources management in Ghana
Characterizing women’s concerns and network in the UER of Ghana
• Local Integrated Water Resources Management: the Example of the CLE in Burkina Faso
• The CLE of Bougouriba 7: Insertion of a new water institution in rural networks in BF
• Understanding CVD in Burkina Faso: the case of the Bougouriba 7 watershed.
• Demonstration of a prototype tool with key boundary partners

12. Activities to date
• Institutional and policy baseline (Burkina Faso)
• Institutional and policy baseline (Ghana, in progress)
• Biophysical modeling of pilot watershed in their sub-basins (SWAT/WEAP, in progress)
• Multi-stakeholder platforms activities in Burkina Faso and Ghana (in progress)
• Development of a participatory modeling platform (in progress)
•
•
•
•
Local soil and water management practices in Ghana: A diagnosis
The role of traditional authorities in natural resources management in Ghana
The role of district assemblies in natural resources management in Ghana
Characterizing women’s concerns and network in the UER of Ghana (in progress)
• Local Integrated Water Resources Management: the Example of the CLE in Burkina Faso
• The CLE of Bougouriba 7: Insertion of a new water institution in rural networks in BF
• Understanding CVD in Burkina Faso: the case of the Bougouriba 7 watershed.
• Demonstration of a prototype tool with key boundary partners

13. V4: Sub-basin management and governance
of rainwater and small reservoirs
BUT… DOES THIS FIT TOGETHER?
CPWF Volta Science Week
Ouagadougou
3-5 July 2012
William’s Daré, CIRAD
Jean-Philippe Venot, IWMI

14. 2 countries, 2 approaches
BURKINA FASO
GHANA
Activities to date:
• Strategy meeting with resource-persons to clarify project strategy and objectives
• First ‘introduction’ multi-level MSP (baseline + awareness on tools and approach)
Visionary team
Definition of the
participatory strategy
Report
Definition of local
implementation:
Resources, issues, possible actions

15. 2 countries, 2 approaches
BURKINA FASO
GHANA
Activities to date:
• Strategy meeting with resource-persons to clarify project strategy and objectives
• First ‘introduction’ multi-level MSP (baseline + awareness on tools and approach)
IWRM policy process has a
‘practical’ emphasis
IWRM policy process has a
‘institutional’ emphasis
‘Diffuse’ ‘Hot-spot’
watershed watershed
2
nd
M
S
P
An emphasis on institutional building
• Pilot study on one CLE (Bgb7)
• Generic lessons and outcomes
through multi-layered engagement
An emphasis on ‘practical strategies’
• An issue: erosion-siltation-flooding
• Connecting people to the issue
• Discussing options

16. Definition of the common issue
• Several days workshop , each day with participants from
a specific level, with the same tool
• Ghana : Communities,
District and Region
 How to limit siltation –
erosion - flooding?
• BF : villages and
communes, CLE, Region
and Mouhoun
Basin, National
how to make the CLE
functional ?

17. Preliminary results: Tools and Issues (1)
Expert representation of ‘watershed linkages’
Biophysical modeling
Input from V2 and V3
Scenario co-assesment

18. Preliminary results: Tools and Issues
• Example : The board of Bawkudo
(for the Zongoyre community)
Plain wood : Day 1,
Oct 2011,
Stylized version,
Day 2 Oct 2011,
Boardgame Day 1,
June 2012

19. Preliminary results: Tools and Issues (2)
CORMAS platform ©
=> The Bawkudo MAS
Co-definition of scenarios
• Use practice and regulation
Medium/Long term simulation
• Food production
• Erosion, extent of flooding
• Other indicators pertinent for actors

20. 2 countries, 2 approaches
BURKINA FASO
Activities to date:
• Strategy meeting with resource-persons to clarify project strategy and objectives
• First ‘introduction’ multi-level MSP (baseline + awareness on tools and approach)
IWRM policy process has a
‘institutional’ emphasis
‘Diffuse’
watershed
An emphasis on institutional building
• Pilot study on one CLE (Bgb7)
• Generic lessons and outcomes
through multi-layered engagement

21. Preliminary results: Actors (2)
The position of the CLE in regard to Natural Resources Management
‘Central’ people
‘Peripheral’ people
‘Key people’ missing
Master’s internship: Ariane Walascek (capacity building)

22. Preliminary results: Actors (3)
Little appropriation of the CLE
THE CLE PLATFORM HAS BEEN SET UP BUT HAS NOT BEEN APPROPRIATED BY ACTORS
 BUILDING THE CLE HAS A LEGITIMATE ENTITY FOR EXCHANGE
 AGREEING ON WHAT IT IS MEANT TO DO (Multiple points of view)
Understand the processes of policy making and implementation
Master’s internship: Ariane Walascek (capacity building)

23. Preliminary results: Actors
Participatory Development Strategy: A network illustration
A contribution to V5
Key informants
Core group
project design
Strategic
orientation
Link to pilot
watershed
PL
PF
Diagnosis tool: do we engage who we should engage and how?
Link to institutional and policy analysis ‘How are policies framed’

24. To conclude? Back to the questions
• What does participation means at different
levels?
• How to ensure meaningful participation with
different types of actors (multi-level)
• Are crisis situation a prerequisite for sustaining
multi-level exchanges and participation
• How to link hydrological and agentbased models?
• How flexible should a tool be with
different actors?
Tool development
Theory
Participation: Theory and Practice
Governance/Policy
• How did the IWRM model emerged and was
adapted in the two countries?
• Whose knowledge is included in the IWRM
policy process and how;?
• What are the politics of IWRM policy making?
Biophysical
• How to model erosion and flooding?
• What is the extent of erosion and flooding
in the pilot watershed?