International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage Commission Interationale des Irrigation et du Drainage



Participatory I&D Management

Participatory irrigation management: One solution that has been tested over the last two decades has been Participatory irrigation management (PIM) involving water user associations (WUAs) in the financing and management of schemes. This solution has its logical culmination in irrigation management transfer, the handover of responsibility for scheme O&M to farmers and their organizations. This solution promised to relieve governments of both the fiscal burden and the responsibility for asset management and maintenance. PIM has made impressive strides. However, there are many schemes where O&M are beyond farmers’ capacity - for example, the management of headwork and major distribution systems. In addition, major I&D investments are often simply beyond the financial capacity of farmers.

 

Public-private partnership: The idea of involving private sector investors and managers in I&D has been debated in the hope that private partners would bring efficient management skills, fresh funds, and relief of government responsibility. However, although the private sector has long been a major participant in irrigation, private investors have generally steered well clear of this kind of large-scale irrigation scheme, which is proving most problematic. Public-private partnership, with its promise of shared responsibility and managed risk, has been seen as a means of creating the right incentives for greater private sector involvement.

 

The objective is improved efficiency - a more timely and inexpensive water service responsive to farmers’ needs. It is important to design the most appropriate institutional setup. Given that the private sector is demonstrably efficient in many of the functions in I&D, it is likely that in many cases a PPP arrangement would in fact be optimal.

 

However, a range of third-party service providers can be considered, either public (for example, are formed and financially autonomous government agency) or private (for example, a private I&D service provider looking for business, a non-governmental organization (NGO) specialized in irrigation management, or a WUA turning into a private corporation).

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Dictionary - Participatory I&D Management Terms

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