Environmental Engineering Reference
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presenting 'hard facts' in their project reports: kilometers of channel rehabilitated, WUAs for
mally established, etc. These are easier measurable than activities like awareness raising or par
ticipative consultations, the impact of which is hardly to quantify. This hinders the realization
of the empowerment and participation idea of the WUA concept.
Internal Adaptation to Neopatrimonialism
Just as WUAs are 'externally' assigned their place in the patrimonial structures of local gover
nance, they also incorporate its logics internally. The internal structure of WUAs reflects that
of political bodies in general: minimal functions of the members' assembly and the council, and
a strong position of the chairman as well as the director. Theoretically, the main decision mak
ing power inside the WUA is the council, and it should therefore have a clear vision about the
association's strategy and delegate the implementation of this strategy to the director. In prac
tice, in most WUAs visited for this study, the chair was quite strong, whereas the rest of the
council remained weak and inactive. A true election process with concurring candidates was
not reported; rather, the candidates were preselected in advance with no more candidates than
positions. The people in the council are typically not professionals but respected individuals
from the community. Especially in the southern part of the country, the respected older men
are often elected to the council. If a WUA encompasses several villages, its council is often
composed of one elder from each village. They often lack the energy, time and understanding
to undertake the necessary efforts toward raising community awareness which are expected
from the council. Also, they may see their main task in representing their respective village's
interests. On the other hand, it is essential for there to be people with authority in the council
because they must explain and convince people of the new rules, such as those concerning
payment, for example. It was argued by various practitioners in this field that the new rules are
more likely to be accepted when demanded by respected elders than by professional experts.
One must also consider that the position of a director or chairman of WUA demands a
lot of time, meaning that an average farmer who has to work in his or her fields cannot afford
to deal with WUA tasks of on a daily basis. Only someone who has employees or relatives to
work in the fields or who earns another sort of income can afford to do so, as the salary for
WUA staff is not enough to earn a living. Due to the lack of the WUA funding for things such
motorcycles, directors must often use their private car to control the channels. Some of the
directors interviewed in our research were therefore rather wealthy farmers. This means that
they are most likely the more influential ones who benefited from land reform and had the
right connections. Other directors were not wealthy but then had difficulties in fulfilling their
tasks as they had for example no vehicle at their disposal.
Even weaker than the position of the council is that of the farmers themselves. The level
of awareness and knowledge about the meaning and functioning of the WUAs is low. Though
the cases in which farmers know nothing about the WUA are rare, it is just as rare to encoun
ter farmers who exactly know what the WUA is. As was described, farmers in general do not
perceive the WUA as an independent organization. Often they think it is a special department
of the aiyl okmotu, or relate it to the FSK or the RaiVodKhoz . In the case study, some farmers
could associate persons with it, but hardly anyone knew the exact name or what “WUA”
stands for. They do not perceive it as 'their' organization, but mostly as connected to aiyl okmo
tu . This was also confirmed by the study of Hassan et al. (2004: 36): “The WUAs are perceived
as someone else's organizations, either of the chairman or of the village.“
The influence of the powerful village elite in the WUA is reflected in water distribution.
Cases of favored distribution to relatives or people in the same network are often reported in
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