Catalog

Women Improve Irrigation Flows

By Ava Shrestha ( ashrestha@adb.org ) and Sonomi Tanaka ( stanaka@adb.org )
Gender and Development Specialist, Nepal Resident Mission; and Social Development Specialist

Women in Nepal are proving they can significantly contribute to managing irrigation schemes, getting users to pay, and improving agricultural production

Nepal, like many other countries, has embarked on transferring the management of irrigation systems from the government to farmers organized into water user associations (WUAs). The intention was to allow the users to take full ownership and responsibility of managing technically and financially the lower levels of the system. The level of success, however, has varied. One of the reasons is the uneven participation among the users—especially women. Their important roles as irrigators and farmers have long been overlooked by development planners, and even farmers themselves.

But getting women truly involved in the WUAs has been a challenge. Many women, especially among the poor and uneducated, are not accustomed to sitting with men at the decision-making table. They also feel that they do not know enough about irrigation management—so they have little to talk about.

To find ways to overcome this, a small, grant-based pilot project from the Gender and Development Initiatives Fund, financed through the Japan Special Fund, was started in 2000. The pilot site selected was Panchakanya, one of the 11 subprojects of the ADB-assisted Irrigation Management Transfer Project (IMTP), which started in 1995. Located in the central development region of Nepal, the Panchakanya system provides irrigation water to 1,200 households living within a command area of 600 hectares. It has a 5-kilometer main canal and 9 branch canals.

Although its structure had been rehabilitated through the IMTP, Panchakanya was struggling with a high level of illegal canal cutting and encroachment. The pilot project was developed to test how women can better contribute to irrigation management, cost recovery, and improved agricultural production. Activities in- cluded selecting women leaders, creating a Wom- en’s Facilitator Group (WFG), and providing training on gender sensitization, irrigation management, and agriculture to the WFG and WUA members.

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	Panchakanya successfully raised women’s WUA membership from 25% to 60% in 1 year

At the start of the pilot project, women comprised only 25% of the WUA members in the Panchakanya system. Although they were included as members to meet the mandated quota for women, they felt that their memberships were only token. They said they did not know about the irrigation system and organizational management, and felt they lacked communication skills to participate in discussions.

While the quota was necessary as a first step, the real challenge was how to realize women’s effective participation in the WUA’s decision making. The group decided that men in WUAs should also be motivated about women’s participation. This is why two men were selected along with 23 women leaders from the WFG as catalysts for change.

The WFG members identified their own training needs, including building their technical capacity, increasing gender sensitivity, and strengthening organizational development skills. After the training, they organized themselves into small groups to motivate women and men from throughout the scheme to work toward a more equitable distribution of water.

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The achievements were significant. Within one year, Panchakanya successfully raised women’s WUA membership from 25% to 60%. They changed the WUA constitution to allow membership of wives and adult male and female children with land certificates.

The WFG was institutionalized as a regular body within the WUA hierarchies. Water thefts were effectively controlled as both men and women exerted coordinated social pressure, which provided incentives for members to pay for the irrigation service.

At the end of the pilot project, 80% of the households were paying the irrigation surface fee. The WUAs also started more canal cleaning, which resulted in improved water productivity and reduced operation and maintenance costs. The Panchakanya model is now being replicated within the IMTP; nongovernment organizations are facilitating its implementation.

“The project concept supports women’s participation as well as increased equity and empowerment,” says Chandrika Basnet, WFG chairperson. She cites a personal example of the day when she returned home from a meeting and found that her husband had already started the dinner, tethered the livestock, and swept the front yard. “I was visibly surprised.”

Ms. Basnet says that she is more confident and poised as a result of the Project. Her goal now is to share her experiences with other WUAs and similarly motivate other women and men.

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