Water for a food-secure world Challenging contexts: commonalities across countries November 2012 Katherine Snyder

Water for a food-secure world Improving Sustainability of Impacts of Agricultural Water Management Interventions in Challenging Contexts Five countries (Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Ghana) Case studies of AWM investments in 5 countries Analysis of AWM case studies Development of guidelines

Water for a food-secure world Defining context… SYSTEM OF STUDY CONTEXT (local and macro) Targeted community Targeted resource AWM intervention Implementing agency Funding agency Recipient government Institutional context Biophysical context Political-economic context Cultural context Discursive context External actors OUTCOMES Livelihood improvement Sustainaibility Fairness& legitimacy Adaptability Resilience Agricultural growth

Water for a food-secure world Analytical Framework

Water for a food-secure world Broad Challenges Incomplete Decentralization and “Political Will” Partial and poorly directed ‘community’ participation and buy-in Poor communication: within donor agencies and between projects and government implementers More attention to ‘hardware’ than ‘software’ Lack of downward accountability Poor design; poor supervision and monitoring Not multi-sectoral

Water for a food-secure world Broad Challenges cont’d Limited implementation of laws and policies Land tenure issues Gender inequity Lack of expertise for implementing projects using community driven development approaches Elite capture

Water for a food-secure world Broad Challenges cont’d Weak local institutions Lack of integration with other project components (marketing) Lack of continued technical support

Water for a food-secure world Design Project design: well crafted on paper, but goals fail to match reality; proposal design team not including more consultative/participatory approach Infrastructure design and construction: often faulty; little inclusion of community knowledge; challenges in personnel capacity – few well- trained engineers

Water for a food-secure world Delays Start-up can be extremely slow: bureaucratic process; funds disbursement; changes in costs Politicization of project: taints procurement; tendering; implementation; Capacity challenges on part of local government project staff to meet project criteria

Water for a food-secure world Operation and maintenance Community hand-over and ownership Funds for maintenance insufficient Training/capacity Disengagement after hand-over

Water for a food-secure world Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity issues Whose criteria for evaluation Lack of baselines

Water for a food-secure world Other issues Staff-turnover Corruption