Water Institutional Reforms in Tajikistan - The Politics of Water Institutional Reform in Neopatrimonial States - page 153

unclear legal situation created difficulties for the locals involved in such associations as they are
not aware of their relation with state authorities and which rights they have exactly. 265 The state
agencies often do not know about this either, due to a lack of clear information on the rules. 266
The registration process for the WUA is often done by the donor agency that facilitates
the process initially. However, it hinders the local representatives from gaining knowledge and
experience on how to deal with the authorities and what their rights are exactly. The primary
contact for the WUAs with problems is not the RaiVodKhoz but rather the donor agency that
established them. Most donor representatives interviewed are aware of these problems. As one
foreign INGO representative concluded, “the greatest failing of the NGO community is not to
help CBOs to understand their status opposite state structures.” 267 In addition, most WUAs
are established with the principal reason of getting access to loans and grants. After the dis
bursement stops, the motivation for further engagement wanes. One RaiVodKhoz director
describes it as follows: “The WUAs only exist superficially. They have been developed top
down and do not function. They would have to arise due to the wish from the farmers; they
themselves have to see the necessity. Now they only wait for the Center [CFPS] to give them
support.” 268
Many experts therefore doubt the long term success of WUAs and do not expect them to
function long after the financial support ends. 269 To date, there is no experience on what hap
pens when a donor organization withdraws and the WUA is expected to function both finan
cially and institutionally without (at least constant) support. Many donors lack a clear strategy
for the future of the committees. 270 According to a survey on CBOs in Sughd oblast, 80% of
all Jamoat directors said that CBOs stopped functioning after the donors left. 271 It is not unlike
ly that many WUAs will meet the same fate.

7.3.5

Summary

The previous sections showed the current state of water governance and water institutional
reforms in Tajikistan. There is one main agency, the MinVodKhoz , responsible for policy for
mulation and implementation, which must however cooperate and coordinate its activities with
other actors.
On the normative level, a new Water Code and several policy strategies were developed,
partly with donor involvement and all relatively quickly and without much public debate and
participation. Their realization faces difficulties, mainly as no sub normative acts and other
implementation mechanism were established. Inter sectoral coordination and the proposed
265 Also with the new Law On WUAs, the legal situation remains ambiguous: In 2007, a new Law on Public
Associations was approved and its relevance for WUAs is unclear. Email communication with project officer of
INGO, 06/21/2007. And it was also clear before the WUA law was issued that it will not provide clear rules for all
WUAs, as not all WUAs which were established by donors fit into the prescriptions of the law (Winrock International
2005: 7).
266 Author's interviews with an NGO representative, Khudjand, 10/07/2005; with an INGO representative, Khudjand,
10703/2005.
267 Author's interview with an INGO representative, Khudjand, 10703/2005.
268 Author's interview with the director of a RaiVodKhoz , Sughd oblast , 09/01/2004.
269 Author's interviews with a local INGO representative, Khudjand, 10/14/2003; with an NGO director, Khudjand,
09/03/2004; with a local senior official at a donor agency, Khudjand, 10/04/2005; with a local NGO director,
Dushanbe 08/25/2004.
270 Author's interview with a local NGO representative, Khudjand, 10/07/2005.
271 Author's interview with a local NGO representative, Khudjand, 10/07/2005.