Developing capacity in water users organizations: the case of Peru

✍ Scribed by J. Huamanchumo; Y. Peña; L. Silva; J. Hendriks

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 57
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1531-0353
• DOI: 10.1002/ird.432

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Up until the end of the 1980s the Peruvian public administration played a central role in irrigation systems throughout the country; this changed in 1989 when operational management of the systems was transferred to water users associations (WUAs). This sudden move required new management capacities for such organizations, demands that were not catered for at the time. Basically, the organizations managed their systems through their own learning and efforts.

Only 10 years later, by the end of the 1990s, the Peruvian government started a large‐scale training initiative directed towards WUAs, mostly in the Peruvian costal areas. Now, eight years later, considerable achievements have been made in relation to water service fee collection and accounting‐related aspects. But internal organizational management of most WUAs remains weak, a problem made worse by the many changes in leadership and instability of personnel.

Some WUAs in the interior of the country, and the National Board of Water Users Associations, have taken initiatives on their own to develop the capacity of their leaders, technical and administrative personnel and users. This process of creating “local capacity builders” within the water organizations still encounters many difficulties, both externally and internally. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.