 |
 |
 |
||
    |
||||
|
||||
| Title |  |
Participatory irrigation management in the
Philippines: National irrigation systems. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Participatory Irrigation Management Cali, Colombia, February 9-15, 1997 (45 pages) |
||
| Author | Namika Raby | |||
| Organisation | Economic Development Institute, now part of the World Bank Institute and the International Irrigation Management Institute. | |||
| Year | 1997 | |||
| Summary/ Introduction |
The Philippines was a
pioneer in involving farmers in irrigation planning and
management. Building on a centuries-old tradition of
local communities developing and managing small
irrigation systems, the Philippines, in the mid-1970s,
began to systematically adapt and apply community
management principles, first to government-assisted
communal irrigation systems and then, beginning in 1984,
to larger “national” schemes. This gradual
incremental process was termed “the learning process
approach.” The approach involved using community organizers who entered and lived in rural communities and helped farmers organized themselves into small irrigation associations (IAs). These associations then entered into contracts with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to perform various management functions, such as system maintenance and fee collection, within their portion of the larger system. A driving incentive for the program was the need to increase cost recovery by the government, and, in particular, NIA’s need to fulfill its mandate to be financially self-reliant. It tackled this task by attempting to both increase revenues through improved fee collections and trim costs, particularly staff costs. Organizing farmers was key to both efforts. NIA has a special department dealing with irrigator associations, the Institutional Development Department (IDD), whose budget runs about 8 to 10 percent of the agency construction budget. The IDD is responsible for carrying out organizing work and for supporting the associations with ongoing training programs. The program has gradually expanded over the past 12 years until about 90 percent of the area under large irrigation schemes in the country is covered by some form of contract between NIA and local associations. The costs of forming and developing an irrigator association are estimated to be about $28/hectare. The results of the program are difficult to assess. Some studies show increases in area served, cropping intensity, and fee collection efficiency. However, assessment is complicated by the fact that transfer of functional responsibilities was usually accompanied by rehabilitation, making it difficult to attribute the observed effects. Collection efficiencies are still low compared with other countries. Agency O&M staff levels have declined somewhat in the last 10 years. Interestingly, one study shows that collection efficiencies improve most in areas where the most responsibility is transferred. A number of problems have emerged over the course of this program which now seem to require a fresh look at the entire participatory program. One is that membership in an IA is voluntary, and the tools available to the IA to compel compliance with rules and payment obligations are very limited. A second is the dependency relationships which have arisen between some associations and the NIA organizers, and, more generally between IAs and NIA. Finances comprise another important problem area. Specific problems include continued non-payment of fee obligations, poor financial management by associations, especially where subsidiary enterprises are involved, and inadequate auditing and accountability. The management model which has emerged in the Philippines is one where clear distinctions between NIA’s role and that of the IAs are often lacking. The two roles interpenetrate at low system levels forming a complicated pattern of joint management arrangements. As a consequence, NIA is unable to make a clean break from lower level management functions, and the IAs fail to face a situation of true autonomy. A new model now emerging involves a 3-way relationship between local village administration, IAs and NIA. The assigning of a central role to local government agencies is an important innovation which should characterize future management models. |
|||
complete document |
||||