1. Water for a food-secure world The IWMI Community Engagement Training Module: Lessons from Ghana and Nepal by Prof. Saa Dittoh (University of Development Studies. Ghana) and Katherine Snyder (IWMI) AWM Workshop, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 16 November 2012

2. Water for a food-secure world INTRODUCTION The IFAD CC project found that in all countries community engagement was a challenge to AWM investment success. The Community Engagement Training in Ghana and Nepal piloted a community engagement curriculum (in AWM) to make it more practical and experience-based, for future use by IFAD and other interested stakeholders. Participants trained to improve their own capacity in engagement and to train others for scaling out.

3. Water for a food-secure world Community Engagement Bawku West District, Ghana Rolpa District, Nepal

4. Water for a food-secure world INTRODUCTION Skill development in the engagement of communities was emphasized. Participants were drawn mainly from IFAD sponsored projects and relevant government ministries and departments. Small-scale reservoirs and canal (river diversion) schemes were the agricultural water systems used as examples in the two pilot cases. The trainings took place from 17 th to 21 st Sept. 2012 in the Bawku West District of Ghana and from 1 st to 5 th Oct. in the Rolpa District of Nepal.

5. Water for a food-secure world Participants (Trainees and Facilitators) GhanaNepal

6. Water for a food-secure world CURRICULUM Development of a case study site: materials on site description, challenges to agricultural productivity, socio- economic characteristics, farming systems Training, first day Familiarizing trainees with each other and with an overview of participatory methods; Role playing exercise Adequate preparation of trainers is important for successful community engagement; need plenty of time for brainstorming and idea sharing

7. Water for a food-secure world Adequate preparations by trainees before community visits very necessary GhanaNepal

8. Water for a food-secure world CURRICULUM Second day Briefing district and village about the training program and objectives. Engaging with different groups within the community to get their views on what constrains development in their village. Ensure balance of gender, age and power. Have community members report back their views to wider group. Community visioning: work with groups to move beyond constraints and problems to what their vision and aspirations are for future water management and agriculture. Identify specific challenges to reaching this future.

9. Water for a food-secure world CURRICULUM Third day Community walk through: with technical experts and social mobilizers, extension agents, farmers (men and women) to see their farming systems and visit sites for AWM. Discuss feasibility of community designed plans with technical experts. Discuss contextual factors that will have an impact on success: market access, market demand, labor availability, seasonal patterns, competing livelihood strategies

10. Water for a food-secure world CURRICULUM Fourth day Discuss options and trade-offs Review access to resources and equity issues Review goals and objectives with community and feasibility Draft an action plan including all issues surrounding construction, operation and maintenance; wider contextual factors such as market engagement and resource access (land and water); design for multiple use

11. Water for a food-secure world CURRICULUM Fifth day Review of community engagement with trainees Lessons learned Identify ways to improve engagement Identify improvements in training

12. Water for a food-secure world LESSONS LEARNT The technical and institutional knowledge and experience that exists at the district and community levels should not be underrated. Trainers should be well prepared with technical knowledge as well as information with regards activities in the districts and communities for effective engagement: Community members and local politicians and leaders get disappointed when trainers give indication that they do not know what is happening on the ground.

13. Water for a food-secure world Must know what is on the ground Poorly constructed canalsMultiple use of dams

14. Water for a food-secure world LESSONS LEARNT Flexibility: trainers must be able to adapt quickly to the case study context and issues. Should not follow strict curriculum if adaptation will improve results. Bottom up (demand driven) interventions have been stressed over time. One of the lessons learnt however is that interventions that are limited to only what is demanded by communities may not yield the desired results. There is need for some emphasis on “top down meeting bottom up” approaches.

15. Water for a food-secure world LESSONS LEARNT The case study needs to be utilized adequately during the field exercises. The language factor should be taken into consideration. Reading materials should be in appropriate languages for participants (trainees who will be trainers). It is not possible to wish away time for translations (at times multiple translations) at the field level.

16. Water for a food-secure world LESSONS LEARNT (Community sensitivities) Community engagements:  should involve some planning with community leaders.  should clearly indicate the purpose to leaders especially stressing the learning nature of the exercise to provide knowledge to policy makers (and not monetary assistance from the foreigners present).  should respect community protocol.  should respect community priorities on timing (which have implications for work schedules) and what to discuss.

17. Water for a food-secure world Group Discussions - Ghana

18. Water for a food-secure world Group discussion and plenary session - Nepal

19. Water for a food-secure world Be prepared for any eventualities in the communities GhanaNepal

20. Water for a food-secure world AFTER COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT WHAT NEXT ? The curriculum addresses this in the form of an action plan. A workable action plan can only be designed only after a lot of consultations with policy makers, politicians and other stakeholders and not on the 5 th day. There is need for follow-up with the communities or else lack of trust will set in. A work plan after consultations must be communicated to communities within a reasonable time period.

21. Water for a food-secure world What next? Nepal Ghana

22. Water for a food-secure world CONCLUSION Community engagement is clearly a cross-learning exercise between “experts” and “non-experts” (may be experts of a different orientation). The cross-learning exercise is important for understanding most complex community level development problems. It is necessary and should be carried out prior to taking specific intervention decisions. All relevant stakeholders must be part of the engagement The engagement must be done in an atmosphere of respect for each other’s views, trust and desire to get identified problems solved.