PLA 35: Community Water Management

The special theme section of this issue of Participatory Learning and Action focuses on community management of water systems.

Article, 31 May 1999
Collection
Participatory Learning and Action
A journal for newcomers and experienced practitioners alike.

June 1999

Guest Editors: Marc P. Lammerink and Dick de Jong

The theme section of this edition shares the lessons learned from a challenging participatory action research programme that sought to improve rural communities' management of their water supply systems. 

This programme, known as the PAR-Manage project, ran in six countries: Cameroon, Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Nepal and Pakistan. This issue presents the outcome and progress to date of the project, which was undertaken for the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), based in The Netherlands. 

This issue also includes four general articles:

  • The first article discusses the use of video in South Africa. The video was used to help identify the development priorities of 14 villages. 
  • The second article looks at how PRA can be employed in conflict situations, showing its use in Cameroon's Waza National Park to deal with sensitive information on illegal park exploitation. 
  • A further article highlights a method for participatory evaluation called the project benefit-impact matrix, and shows its use within the context of a project evaluation in the Maldives. 
  • The final article reviews the use of complementary methods to understand land use changes, with an example from the Ethiopian Rift Valley. 

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Content can be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided the source is fully acknowledged. 

Follow the links below to download the whole issue or individual articles in pdf format.

Download the complete issue.

Contents

Editorial

We live on prayers: the use of video in community development
Hilde Van Vlaenderen

Walking a tightrope: using PRA in a conflict situation around Waza National Park, Cameroon
Paul Scholte, Saleh Adam, Saidou Kari and Jean-Hilaire Mbouchel

Project benefit-impact matrix from the Maldives - a method for participatory evaluation
Neela Mukherjee, Mohammed Zahid, Aminath Lateefa and Mohammed Rasheed

Complementary methods to understand land-Use changes: an example from the Ethiopian Rift Valley
Michele Nori, Adane Hirpa and Giovanni A. Ferrari

Community water management

Strengthening community water management
Marc P. Lammerink, Eveline Bot, Dick de Jong and Ton Schouten

An introduction to participatory action development (PAD)
Marc Lammerink, Peter Bury and Eveline Bolt

A Detailed look at the PAD approach
Marc P. Lammerink

Aguacatán in Guatemala: how seven communities joined hands
Fabián Gonón Ortiz, Carlos Simón Perén, Milagro Escobar and Jaime Pacajoj Cifuentes

Women's involvement: a switch in thinking, Hoto, Pakistan
Nahida Aziz and Sarah Halvorson

Convincing people to pay for water: Nkouondja in Cameroon
AndrewTayong and Christine Poubom

Experimenting to solve water management problems: Lele community in Nepal
Raju Khadka, Laxmi Paudyal and Hari Subba

Sparkling ideas in Campoalegre, Colombia: managing the watershed to sustain the water supply
Cecilia Gomez B. and Alfonzo Rojas P.

What stimulating and committed leadership can achieve: Nkouondja, Cameroon
Andrew Tayong and Christine Poubom

Pakora in Pakistan: moving towards democratic management
Tameez Ahmad and Haider Raza

Participatory evaluation of a community water project in Tanzania
Kate Forrester Kiguga, Simon Bibby and Alfred Sakafu

Lessons learned by communities and the PAR team - Nepal
Raju Khadka and Laxmi Paudyal

PAR outcomes; Nyakerato in Kenya
Isaack Oenga and Pauline Ikumi

Feedback: Learning from using PRA in the UK - examples from Berkshire
Anneli Connold and John Rowley

A brief guide to organising workshops for training, orientation and exposure in participatory approaches

Tips for trainers:  'But why?'
Jane Banez-Ockelford