g3 results am 11nov

7/30/2019 G3 Results AM 11Nov

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Polders and sub-projects in coastal Bangladesh: Astudy in commonality and contrast

G3: Water Governance and Community Based ManagementGanges Basin Development Challenge

Aditi Mukherji, PL-G3Dhaka, 11th November 2012


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G3: Objectives

Main objective:

Understand the

different institutionsand key actorsinvolved in watergovernance in thecoastal polders

Understand the role of

communities in suchgovernance, conflictresolution andproductive use of landand water

Better governed polders

Suggestimplementable policysuggestions forimproving polder

governance inBangladesh


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G3: Research Questions

Is community management the best way of

managing coastal polders? If so, under what

circumstances does it work?

If community management is indeed the wayforward, what are the constraints that communities

face in polder management?

What kind of policies and institution are needed sothat communities can participate in management of

polders?


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G3 Research Framework and Impact Pathway

Activities

Data & CasesParticipatory mapping

Situation analysis

In-depth case studies

Experimental Games

Participatory Research

Research ValidationCollaboration with local universities

Focusing on PRA methods and inviting

different opinions from different

stakeholders

Policy Analysis &

Communications Research papers

Policy briefs

Workshops

Shushilan

(NGO), IWM,

BAU, BWDB ,

LGED

Coastal

communities, local

government

institutions

Regional and

national policy

makers

Partners

Outcomes

Polders

managed in a

way that

helps improve

food security

and

livelihoods

IMPACT

Contribute to building up longer termresilience among the communities who live in

coastal areas in Bangladesh

Policyimpact

Informedscientific

research

Capacitybuilding


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Partners

Institute of Water Modeling

Bangladesh Agricultural University

Shushilan

BWDB and LGED


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Activities and OutputsActivity Output Status Partner

Desk reviews 3 Literature reviews Completed IWM and IWMI

Qualitative surveys 9 Situation analysis

reports based 51

FGDs and 87 KIIs

Completed a Sushilan & IWMI

Infrastructure

mapping

9 Infrastructure

maps

Completed IWM

Participatory Maps 9 maps 6 completed, 3

ongoing

IWM

Official and

community

consultations

Consultation

meetings with

donors and farmers

First round

completed, we will

do more

IWMI

Students thesis 5 PhD thesis 3 completed, 2

ongoing

BAU

Experimental games

and quantitative

surveys

Ongoing IWMI and Sushilan


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Understanding the actors,

communities and institutions

What are the problemsand for which groups?

How are they managed?

Which institutions,organizations and

individuals are involvedin water management?

How?

How is the communityinvolved in water

management?

S I T U A T I O N A N A L Y S I S


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G3 was all about consultative research: 54 FGDs and 87 KIIs

involved 700 plus men and women including Local Government

Officials


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Synthesis of findings: A study in

contrast and commonality


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Polder Infrastructure and Physical characteristics

Polder/Sub-

Project

Area (sq.

km)

Approximate

population

(2011)

Embankment

(km)

# Gates and

sluices

Salinity

levels

Polder 3 194.3 39,584 64.5 32 Very high

Polder 24G 258.56 61,867 15 8 Medium to

low

Polder 31 148.31 32,576 42 67 High

Polder 30 72.09 36,017 64.5 28 Medium

Polder 43-2F 56.22 28,485 32.5 11 Very low

Latabunia 2.0 446 4.5 1 Medium

Jabusha 4.11 6195 8.4 5 Low to

medium

Jainkathi 1.0 325 1.8 2 Very low

Bagarchra 3.5 1299 2 Medium to

high

Study area varies from 1 sq.

km to 257 sq. km,

embankments from 4.5 km

to 64.5 km, gates and sluicesfrom 1 to 66 and salinity

from very low to very high


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Cropping systems

Polder/Sub

-ProjectCropping systems 1 Cropping systems 2 Cropping systems 3

Polder 3 All year round

shrimp

White fish- shrimp Aman & white fish-boro

Polder 31 Aman -shrimp Aman -rabi crops/ boro Limited pocket of year

round shrimp

Polder 30 Aman-rabi

(sesame)

Aman & white fish-rabi Golda-bagda

Polder 43-

2FAman-rabi (all

kinds of rabi crops)

Aman-boro (in limited

areas)

Aman/white fish-rabi or

boro

Latabunia Aman-shrimp

Jabusha Aman, white fish-

rabi/boro

Jainkathi Aman-Rabi (all

kinds of rabi crops)

Bagarchra White fish-shrimp All year round shrimp Aman/white fish-shrimp

Cropping systems vary from

year round shrimp to white

fish-shrimp towards the

eastern parts (Polders 3 and

31), to paddy-rabi and boro

towards the west (Polder

43/2F)


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Institutional ArrangementsPolder/Sub-

Project

WMOs created As a part of

Polder 3 No No project in Polder 3 ever since its

construction in 1960s

Polder 31 Yes 3rd and 4th Fisheries, BWDB

Polder 30 Yes IPSWAM, BWDB

Polder 43-2F Yes IPSWAM, BWDB

Latabunia Yes SSWRDP-I, LGED

Jabusha Yes SSWRDP-I, LGED

Jainkathi Yes SSWRDP-I, LGED

Bagarchra Yes SSWRDP-I, LGED


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Who decides timing of gate operation?

Polder/Sub-

ProjectWMO Gher

owners

UP Chairman

and Members

Gate

committee

appointed by

UP or BWDB

Local elites

Polder 3 -

Polder 31

Polder 30 - -

Polder 43-2F - -

Latabunia - -

Jabusha -

Jainkathi - - -

Bagarchra -

Decisions to open and close the

gates involves various actors and it

differs across and within polders.

UP Chairman and Members are

almost always involved in decision

as are local elites. WMOs, even

where they exist, do not always

play a prominent role in this


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Polder 3: Uncontrolled pipes, weak infrastructure and

dominance of gher owners

Polder 3 needs a IPSWAM or 4th

Fisheries type of project where entire

infrastructure will be revamped by

introduction of proper flushing cum

drainage gates. This will help stop the

problem of informal pipes. Here gherowners and UP dominate water

management, so IPSWAM like capacity

building of communities will help in

giving voice to the poor


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Polder 30: Poor drainage and water management,

unwillingness to adopt improved technologies, almost inactive

WMOs

Drainage and water logging are major issues

WMOs created by IPSWAM not active

Compartmentalization offers a solution


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Polder 31: Poor infrastructure and shrimp-paddy conflicts

Tildanga cultivatesshrimp and Pankhalipaddy

Conflicts between

paddy and shrimpfarmers

Land use zoning

throughcompartmentalizationas a solution


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Polder 43/2F: Upland-lowland drainage congestion and

lack of water for summer irrigation

Main problem is that of

upland-lowland drainage

Given this polder has

sweet water, there is a

demand for summer

irrigation

Solutions include

compartmentalization and

canal deepening, flowirrigation? Shallow

tubewells?


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Latabunia: Poor quality of embankment

This sub-project is notapproachable by motor ableroads and is the mostinaccessible among all oursites.

Embankment is of low

height and narrow width.Given it is surrounded byrivers on 4 sides, it makes itparticularly vulnerable todisasters

Solution is building astronger and widerembankment


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Jabusha: Internal conflicts around leasing of a khal

The main khal was earlier

leased to WMCA and nowbeen leased to a private

entity

Leading to conflicts between

two factions that ofChairman and Secretary

Needs better clarity on

leasing terms and conditions

including rethinking leasepolicies

B h B d h A f ti i WMCA b t


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Bagarchra-Badurgacha: A functioning WMCA, but poor

embankment quality

Only one 9 polders where

WMO seems to be workingmore or less effectively

Poor quality of

embankment, especially on

one side is the majorproblem

Solution lies in

strengthening in

embankment by making ithigher and broader


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Jainkathi: Internal conflicts and use of private land for

construction of LGED gate

Smallest of our all siteswith only two gates

But one gate built onprivate land and has sincebeen closed

Leading to problems ofwater congestion anddrainage

LGED to rethink policy ofbuilding on private land?

LGED has already changedthis and now aquires landbefore building astructure


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A study in commonality

Poor condition of embankments, khals, gates and illegal

pipes Symptomatic of problem ofdeferred maintenance

And of outdated design principles

Poor condition of the khals is also symptomatic of leasing policy ofvarious government departments which do not match with each other

Conflicts surrounding water management, be it upland-lowland or shrimp-paddy conflicts

UP Chairman and Members are de-facto decision makers in

most polders/sub-projects, but do not necessarily have aformal role (in LGED sub-projects, UP are supposed to play asupervisory role, but power tussle between WMCA and UP)


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Understanding deferred maintenance as an

incentive problem?

WMOs were created for the purpose of solving problems of

minor maintenance to make sure they dont become major.But all the WMOs we met are not doing a good job ofmaintenance, though they are better at operation of gatesand sluices

Why are communities not interested in minor maintenance? Public goods dilemma: one individual can enjoy benefits of good

maintenance even without contributing to it. Free riders then erodethe system (Public goods game and field evidence)

Even so called minor repair and maintenance may be beyond thecapacity of communities

Incentive problems: if communities dont fix minor problems, then in afew years, it becomes major maintenance and either government ordonor comes up with a rehabilitation project


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So what are the solutions for better maintenance?

Solutions at community level:

Give WMOs access to income generating assets like khals ormicro-credit so that they can overcome the problem of

financial insolvency and difficulty of collecting funds. LGED

has been doing this for a while. What has their experience

been so far? Do income generating WMCAs invest in

maintenance? Not necessarily, but helps in garnering

matching support from LGED

At community level, devise fair rules for collection of

maintenance funds proportional contribution rule,

transparency etc. (insights from the game)

But communities can not do it alone!


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So what are the solutions for better maintenance?

Solutions above the community level:

Use existing social safety network funds, like 40 dayswork, KABHIKA for repair and maintenance in polders:Needs UP involvement

Create a donor-government combined Trust Fund forMaintenance of all Water Infrastructure and allocate afixed amount (proportional to size of polders) to eachand every polder every year. Involve WMOs forconsultation on what kinds of repairs are needed and

then employ LCS for those. This amount is theMinimum R&M Allocation for each polder each year.Needs involvement of donors and Central Government


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Solutions for reducing water related conflicts

Much of the water related conflicts can be solved by Compartmentalization of polders into smaller drainage units for

easier drainage. Can LGED play a role in it through their villageroad construction programs? Roads as hydrological boundaries?

Related to this is land-use zoning particularly relevant for

shrimp-paddy conflicts

Ways of involving UP and Local Government Institutions inpolder . Already happening through UPCC? Union ParishadCoordination Committee

Use of funds with UP for social safety net programs for bothmaintenance and compartmentalization: Involve UPs


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Good news!

Some of our suggestions are already happening:

Role of LGIs, especially UP is getting recognized andconstitution of UPCC is a recent example. UPCC will meet

every month under Chairmanship of the UP Chairman and

discuss all development project in their area. A pilot

project by the GOB launched under Local GovernmentSupport Project

Using rural roads as hydrological boundaries for

compartmentalization. LGED is already doing it in SSWDRP

III and IV phases

Compartmentalization within BWDB polder with help of

LGED: Already happening in Narail Santuary Bil project

where LGED is doing 30 sub-projects within BWDB polders

P i t f di i


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Points for discussions

How best to maintain existing infrastructure:

Community contribution (what are the problems with existing models? Whydont communities contribute?)

Donor-Government Joint Trust Fund on lines with Agricultural and ClimateChange Trust Funds (donors views? Government views? This is a NEW idea)

Use of UP funds for social safety nets for construction of rural roads andrepair of internal canals and embankments (coordination with UP)

Judicious combination of all these

How best to reduce water conflicts: Compartmentalization using rural roads as hydrological boundaries? LGED to

play a role and BWDB to cooperate? Already happening in Narail SantuaryBill Project.

Formal involvement of UPs in conflict resolution and planning? UnionDevelopment Coordination Committee (UDCC)


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Thank you

g3 results am 11nov

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