1. 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.