Tracking Relief and Development Trends
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Water Reform Helps Rural Populations in Tajikistan
By David Alpher, Winrock International
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and its centralized control, Central Asian irrigation systems fell into disrepair. Drainages were blocked by debris, equipment rapidly became outdated, and taxes were paid on water that never reached the fields. The drought of 2005 brought production losses, and water-related conflict increased among rural populations.
Makhadali Khuramov, a smallholder farmer who leases two hectares of land in Tajikistan’s northern Rudaki district, struggled for years to obtain water to adequately irrigate his fields. Khuramov took matters into his own hands and tried to form an association of water users to resolve the irrigation problems, but he had difficulties convincing his neighbors that they could collectively resolve their own water management problems.
In February 2005, representatives from Winrock International’s USAID-funded Water User Association Support Program (WUASP) came to his community to discuss the assistance they could offer in establishing a water user association. At first, the local farmers, including Khuramov, were suspicious. One of them, a farmer named Bahriddin Jumaev, recalled, “…the head of Winrock… asked us if were interested in organizing a strong and sustainable association. We did not know what to answer. We did not believe that a water user association could solve our problems.”
Project coordinators made it clear that they weren’t here to solve problems, but to help build a system in which farmers could more easily solve their own problems. As community support increased, water user associations were democratically formed, named, and legally incorporated. A locally-appointed liaison facilitated communication between farmers and helped ensure good relationships with and among project villages. Importantly, project beneficiaries are involved at each step in the process, helping shape associations to serve their specific needs.
Training in democratic processes and deep knowledge of local history are key to the project’s success—water user associations (WUAs) have not been universally well-received. In India for example, development of water user associations has been less successful, due in part to a complicated history with caste relations and governmental systems that benefited from a chaotic status quo. Central Asia has no similar history of WUAs, which allows a different narrative to take root. Democratic methods of governance and process in this project have not been trained as an abstract process, but tied directly to economic and social benefit at a level that affects the farmers on a daily basis, and democratic process has flourished. Within project areas, water-related conflict has dropped substantially as community-coordinated problem-solving efforts took hold.
Tajik villagers are proud of their associations and of the process with which they were formed. This is a clear example of the strength of programs built with local involvement. According to Khuramov, “Now we have a real opportunity to solve our problems together, not only those concerned with irrigation and water management, but also other issues related to agriculture and community problems.”
The Water User Association Support Program garnered an effect at the national level and assisted in drafting legislation for review by Tajikistan’s Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources. When the draft was made public for comment, the Program distributed copies for review and feedback, and co-sponsored an open parliamentary hearing. Local association members shared their views and several assisted in drafting a final version, fostering a sense of ownership among local farmers.
This project, which operates regionally throughout Central Asia, demonstrates the benefits of transparent democratic processes that involve and benefit people at the grassroots level. It also shows the powerful impact that proper design of these types of initiatives can have on mitigating conflict. Although conflict was not an identified indicator of success, it has decreased in project areas—an effect that is expected to spread as more user associations form. The trend is so striking it is now included in project activity monitoring efforts.
To date, more than 2,000 local water user association members have participated in training, increasing their capacity in water management and delivery, business skills, conflict resolution, and use of democratic processes. In turn, the demand for Water User Association Support Program training has increased with requests from the German AgroAction in Aini rayon (Sugd oblast) and Baldshuvan rayon (Khatlon Oblast), the Mountain Society Development Support Program in Rasht Valley, and from the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources.
