Abstract
Participatory approaches within development programs involving common-pool resources are intended to revive a community’s role in managing these resources. Certainly, to ensure the successful and equitable use of such resources, community participation is essential. However, in many cases, attempts at applying a participatory approach often fail to genuinely engage all subgroups within a community due to assumptions of homogeneity and a lack of understanding of the deep socio-political divisions between people. As a result, development programs can be plagued by these pre-existing power relations, potentially resulting in tokenistic community participation and the continuation of elite capture of natural resources to the same extent or worse than before a development program has begun. This in turn can negatively impact good governance and the fair distribution of a common pool resource. This paper explores the use of participatory approaches in water projects, assessing to what degree power relationships impact water management programs. Using a qualitative approach, the paper identifies key challenges of participatory water governance through case studies from Turkey, India, and Sri Lanka, exploring: lack of social trust, elite capture of participatory processes, power heterogeneity and imbalances at the micro-level, and a lack of inclusive participation in decision-making. Based on the analysis of these case studies, this paper argues that it is essential for participatory development interventions to understand socio-political power relations within a community—an inherently complex and contested space. The so-called “exit strategy” of a community project play a key role to decide the project sustainability that grants the “community ownership” of the project. Such an understanding can bring about greater success in development interventions attempting to address water-related issues.
Highlights
Introduction conditions of the Creative CommonsActive community participation has been a core principle in rural water resource management
India conditions leading to the irrigation management transfer included a national budgetary Research conducted for this paper revealed that power and decision-making processes crisis that led to severe limitations on financial allocations to the DSI in general and to the within the community in Khejrigram (Khejrigram is a pseudonym for the village used in this case study to ensure the anonymity of the interviewees and the privacy of the village), a village of approximately 3000 people in Alwar, Rajasthan, were dominated by only a few families
Applying a set of diagnostic queries to case study regions in Rajasthan (India), dry zone in Sri Lanka and Turkey, we could identify a number of obstacles
Summary
Active community participation has been a core principle in rural water resource management. Studies show how traditional water management systems actively manage and govern water resources with the inclusive engagement of local people [1–4]. The role of local elites belonging to the dominant social class, tribe, or caste can be observed in some traditional water management systems at the community level [5]. The main aims of these CBWM are to increase people’s inclusive participation in decision-making regarding their water resources and to strengthen capacities to coherently manage these resources [8]. CBWM are based on price mechanisms, as the community takes over the responsibility for further management of the water resources, including operational, maintenance, and governance processes [7]. GWP—Integrated Water Resources Management Plans Training Manual and Operational Guide. In Natural Resources Forum; Blackwell Publishing Ltd.: Oxford, UK, 2009; Volume 33, pp. 76–86
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