Does Community Engagement Lead to Effective Decision Making? An Evidence from Karnataka Watershed Development Agency, India

G Ananda Vadivelu

doi:10.33002/nr2581.6853.01024

Abstract

Participation has both an intrinsic and instrumental value, and livelihood enhancement is achieved by fostering the effective engagement with the target community. As an implementation agency for the Karnataka Watershed Development Agency in Chitradurga district, MYRADA followed the building block approach. This meant that there was enough engagement with the village community in organising affinity groups involved in credit activities, before wider village level institutions were crafted. In this article, it is examined whether such an engagement lead to effective decision-making with respect to the soil and water conservation treatment undertaken on the farmers’ land. Contrary to the theoretical proposition of the Olson (1965) that smaller the size better is the provisioning of the collective good, present field study found that provisioning by such groups could also lead to a bad outcome.

Highlights

UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) supported the Government of Karnataka (GoK) in starting the Karnataka Watershed Development Agency (KAWAD) project
We examine the participation of farmers in KAWAD project with respect to a crucial variable “decision making on the soil and water conservation treatment undertaken in the farmers’ land
In the demand driven approach, farmers request for a particular type of treatment making upfront contributions with final decision is taken by Micro Watershed Development Committee (MWSDC) and NGO staff

Summary

Introduction

In the demand driven approach, farmers request for a particular type of treatment making upfront contributions with final decision is taken by Micro Watershed Development Committee (MWSDC) and NGO staff. There have been compromises in the programme implementation with a collusive behaviour of the farmer-MWSDC member (either the representative or record writer or both) or NGO staff in facilitating ‘adjustments’ which lead to the poor quality and quantum of the SWC treatment.

Results

Conclusion