Participatory Development and Management : A Cornerstone of Philippine Irrigation Program

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) is the government agency in the Philippines mandated to develop water resources for irrigation purposes. It is classified as a government-owned and controlled corporation. A major strategy implemented by NIA is the application of the so-called participatory approach program (PAP) concept in the irrigation environment. This approach enables all stakeholders to be involved in practically all phases of the irrigation endeavor. The concept was introduced in the early 1*s and with its positive results was institutionalized in all projects implemented by NIA. Before the introduction of PAP, the agency was doing all the planning, designing, construction and operation functions with almost no participation from the project beneficiaries -the farmers. Central to PAP is the organization of irrigation beneficiaries into formal groups called Irrigators Associations (IA). Through a professional NIA sta# member called an Institutional Development O$cer (IDO) deployed to the irrigation area, the IAs are trained in various aspects of basic leadership, financial management and irrigation system management to equip them with the capability to manage their associations. Eventually, the IAs are granted legal recognition by the government allowing them to enter into contracting arrangements in the management of the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the irrigation systems. The formal organization and legal recognition of the IAs have empowered the irrigation beneficiaries to become self-reliant and independent organizations. The contracting agreements, collectively called O&M contracting, are canal maintenance, irrigation service fee (ISF) collection and complete management take over of small irrigation systems. In the canal maintenance agreement (called Type +) an IA receives approximately Phillipine pesos +,.** (US $ ,0) per month while under ISF collection agreement (called Type ,), the IA gets a commission ranging from , to +/ of the collected amount. Under complete management takeover (Type -), the IA assumes complete management of the system and pays, through annual amortization, the construction or rehabilitation costs. An expanded version of the O&M management turnover program called Irrigation Management (IMT) was later introduced. IMT a#ords IA and NIA the option for a joint system management of canal systems or complete management takeover of relatively small systems. One salient feature of IMT is negotiation between the two parties regarding the sharing of the collected ISF and responsibilities for the repair and maintenance of facilities and structures. Contracting provides an opportunity for the IAs to generate funds that are in turn used to finance some projects and activities. Overall, participatory management has generated optimistic gains in the improvement of NIA and IA operations. But some refinements to the program still have to be instituted in order to upgrade these initial gains. Areas needing more attention include: (a) the issue of delayed payment of IA remuneration in both the O&M contracting and IMT agreements as these a#ect the ability of IAs to finance projects and activities; (b) pulling-out of the IDO in the service area just one year after the IA has been organized may be pre-mature as the association still needs assistance including additional training and capability building during its infancy stage; and (c) the redundancy of IMT displaced NIA sta# must be remedied if acceleration of the program is seriously desired.