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In IIMI; Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering. International Conference on Irrigation Management Transfer, Wuhan, China, 20-24 September 1994. Draft conference papers. Vol.1. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI); Wuhan, China: Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering.

Paper prepared for presentation at session on "Enough Water for All", at the Global Dialogue on "The Role of the Village in the 21st Century: Crops, Jobs, Livelihood, at EXPO 2000, Hannover, Germany, 15-17 August , 2000 ; Because of increasing water scarcity in developing countries, poor people are suffering greatly from ?water deprivation.? One approach to improving water resources management is to develop river basin management institutions. This paper contrasts government-dominated approaches to forming such institutions with attempts to create stakeholder-based institutions. Two cases of the latter, in Mexico and South Africa, are compared to extract lessons for other countries.

In Johnson, S. H.; Vermillion, D. L.; Sagardoy, J. A. (Eds.). Irrigation management transfer: selected papers from the International Conference on Irrigation Management Transfer, Wuhan, China, 20-24 September 1994. Rome, Italy: FAO ; FAO Water Reports 5

Argues that single irrigation systems managed by autonomous system-specific organizations accountable to their customers, perform better and are more sustainable than those managed by agencies dependent on the government, or by agencies responsible for multiple systems. Selected cases are reviewed and the plausibility of this hypothesis established. General recommendations are made for policy makers designing irrigation reform programs.

In Merrey, D. J.; Wolf, J. M. Irrigation management in Pakistan: four papers. Digana Village, Sri Lanka: International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI).IIMI Research Paper 4 ; This paper uses a case study to address a fundamental issue in irrigation management: the relationship between technology and the organization required to use that technology productively. When an irrigation system is developed over time by a local community, the technology and the organization evolve together. However, when engineers design and construct large scale irrigation systems, there is a tendency to concentrate on the civil works, and to assume that, at least on the local level, whatever organization is required will evolve by itself. This was the assumption of the designers of the large irrigation systems built by the British and post colonial governments in present day Pakistan and the northwestern states of India. ; As there are few detailed studies of the actual operation of warabandi, this paper attempts to fill this gap in our knowledge of warabandi. Based on detailed field work in a village in Punjab Province, Pakistan, it takes an historical perspective on how the route of a particular watercourse, and the rotations on that watercourse, have evolved over time. It demonstrates the lack of "fit" or congruence between the imposed irrigation technology and the pre-existing social organization of the village. The attempts by some water users to adapt both the route and the rotation to solve social conflicts have proven unsatisfactory.

In Muller, H. P.; Hettige, S. T. (Eds.). The blurring of a vision - The Mahaweli: its social, economic and political implications. Ratmalana, Sri Lanka: Sarvodaya

One of the many legacies of colonialism in Africa is the multiplicity of river basins shared by two or more – and often far more – countries. Since changing national boundaries is not an option, African governments have no choice but to develop transnational institutions for developing shared water resources. Therefore, one finds a plethora of bilateral and multilateral committees, commissions, and authorities intended to facilitate agreements for infrastructural investments, management of water flows (quantity and quality), and response to disasters, especially floods. These efforts are supported by – indeed often, at least behind the scenes, driven by – western and international development partners. With few exceptions, the results to date are not impressive, as governments drag their feet on ratifying or implementing agreements and investing in creating the necessary institutional infrastructure, and donors' funds go unspent because such agreements are conditions precedent for investment. Despite the work done by many international and local non‐government organisations (NGOs) as well as some governments, hardly any of the residents of African river basins are aware of these commissions. All of them are based on organisational models derived from western experiences and governing principles and are created by inter‐governmental agreements. The citizens residing in the basin are rarely consulted. In some cases, powerful national hydraulic bureaucracies seek to control the process in an effort to gain leverage over infrastructural investments. There is a body of literature seeking to explain the ineffectiveness of transnational river basin management to date, largely based on political science, sociology and economics. Some but not all observers are concerned with the degree of democracy in the political process. This paper addresses a dimension that has received very little attention and therefore complements the existing literature. It explores the hypothesis that transnational river basin management institutions will achieve a higher degree of legitimacy and effectiveness in the long run if they are based on African institutional models rather than pursuing the current approach of imposing external models. This assumes the existence of local African indigenous models or principles that can be adapted to such large‐scale hydraulic institutions. The paper argues this may indeed be the case though more detailed research is needed to document them, and a creative consultative political process would be needed to build on these foundations.

The purpose of this Guide is to provide an overview of the major considerations and steps to be followed in organizing new irrigation farmers' organizations or Irrigation Water Users' Associations (IWUAs). The Guide should support developing or strengthening a specialized formal IWUA for implementing a program aimed at creating or improving a collectively managed irrigation scheme. The Guide is focused on programs involving construction of new irrigation schemes; rehabilitation, modernization or revitalization of existing irrigation schemes; or supporting farmers wishing to improve the performance of their irrigation scheme. While based on extensive research and evidence, the intended audience for this Guide is the set of practitioners responsible for planning and implementing communal irrigation programs. This may include managers of publicly or externally supported projects, government agricultural and irrigation officials, private investments and nongovernmental organizations. The Guide draws on over 50 years of experience organizing farmers to participate in the creation, improvement and management of both farmer-managed and government-managed irrigation schemes. The major lesson learned is that investing in the "software" component – training and institutional development – of irrigation is critical for success. If the IWUA is weak or ineffective, the scheme will fail to achieve its potential, no matter how good the hardware is. The Guide seeks to avoid imposing a specific organizational design for what an institution should look like and do, but suggests a process organized around six 'steps' to be followed, more or less in sequence. Using these steps creatively as a guideline, not as a recipe to be followed precisely, will increase the likelihood that irrigation investments achieve the desired project goals.

Proceedings of the workshop which focused particularly on gender analysis of rights to land and water, the implications of privatization and water markets for women's access to resources, how women (as well as men) can participate fully in collective action projects and the relation between problems like water scarcity and pollution, multiple uses of water in irrigation systems and gender.

This paper analyzes trends in the level of compensation of irrigation engineers in three irrigation agencies in three countries, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The paper tries to relate these trends to the performance of the agencies, to understand promotion policies and their relationship to performance and compensation, and to compare the current level of irrigation engineers' compensation to that in other professions. In the Philippines and Sri Lanka, irrigation engineers' compensation has declined continuously, reaching a 1995 low that is one half of what they received in 1965 in real terms. Irrigation engineers' compensation in these countries was also considerably less than for engineers working in private firms and even in other government agencies. In contrast, irrigation engineers in one Pakistani agency have enjoyed a significant increase in their compensation, largely because of the high level of benefits. Trends in the performance of the three agencies studied showed a strong positive correlation with the trends in engineers' compensation, suggesting the plausibility of a relationship but not proving it. The study found that none of the agencies maintains adequate long-term records (two agencies were dropped from the study because the data were not adequate). The crudeness of the data and the analysis is such that no causal relationship is established, but there is a plausible case that compensation of irrigation professionals needs to be increased as part of a program to increase irrigation agency performance in developing countries.

This paper reports on a detailed sociological study carried out as the NGO (or change agent) was completing three-year projects in two sites, Nagadeepa and Pimburettewa. The study describes the change agent's strategy, and analyzes its impact and the perceptions of farmers and government officials regarding its impact. The case study is placed in a wider context, in terms of both the participatory management policy of the Government of Sri Lanka, and the lessons learned that are relevant for NGOs working in other countries as well.

Starting from the assessment that past efforts at reform in agricultural water management in developing countries have achieved very little, this article argues that a fundamental change is required in the approach to policy and institutional transformation if the present deadlock in the internalisation of ecological sustainability, human development/poverty alleviation and democratic governance into the 'core business' of water bureaucracies is to be overcome. 'Social engineering' approaches need to be replaced by 'strategic action' approaches that acknowledge the inherently political character and the plurality of actors, institutions and objectives of water management - a perspective operationalised here around the notions of 'problemshed' and 'issue network.'

In Molle, Francois; Wester, P. (Eds.). River basin trajectories: societies, environments and development. Wallingford, UK: CABI; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI).Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture Series 8