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Biblioteca Citizen participation in managing water: Do Conversatorios generate collective action?

Citizen participation in managing water: Do Conversatorios generate collective action?

Citizen participation in managing water: Do Conversatorios generate collective action?

Resource information

Date of publication
Dezembro 2011
Resource Language
ISBN / Resource ID
handle:10568/4695
License of the resource

A central challenge for effective watershed

management is improving the welfare of residents who

live in upper catchments while providing adequate

environmental goods and services to people and

areas downstream. A CPWF project, Sustaining

Collective Action Linking Economic and Ecological

Scales in Upper Watersheds (SCALES), addressed

this challenge in three sites.1 This document is an

evaluation of a project activity that intended to

enhance collective action in one site: the Coello

watershed of Colombia.

Collective action can influence how people use

and manage natural resources. It is a process by which

voluntary institutions (e.g., rules and regulations)

are created and maintained, often with the aim of

improving human and environmental welfare and,

especially for water resources, it typically involves

a broad range of stakeholders who control, use and

benefit from water. Examples of stakeholders include

government, private businesses, landowners, farmers,

and city dwellers.

The SCALES project researched and fostered

collective action. The Conversatorio of Acción

Ciudadana (CAC) served as the collective action

mechanism to promote civil society participation in

public policy decisions. Supported by the Colombian

constitution, the legal power of CACs enable

communities to discuss policies and reach agreements

with government authorities.

People in the Coello watershed confront water

problems that affect their livelihoods. Contamination

and deforestation are two major causes of water

resource degradation, in terms of both water

quality and flow regulation. Specifically, fertilizer

contamination of water supplies and sedimentation

of waterways negatively affect downstream

communities. The watershed also faces competition

for water supplies. Water is extracted from natural

waterways for both rural irrigation and urban

household consumption.

A CAC is more than a large meeting to talk and

make decisions. The CAC is a four-phase process

that enhances the effectiveness of local participation:

(1) awareness-raising, (2) capacity-building and

preparation (3) CAC implementation, and (4) review

and planning. The CAC mechanism has brought

together diverse actors and fostered collective action

across spatial and social scales. Many types of actors

have participated, including local NGOs, upstream

and downstream community representatives,

politically important actors (at municipal, provincial

and national levels) and scientific experts in research

and development (R&D).

The objective of this review is to evaluate the

impact of the CAC process. Evaluation methods

included analysis of SCALES project reports and

documentation on impact pathways, interviews and

social networks. The intended project outcomes, as

identified by the project implementers themselves,

served as the starting point for the analysis. These

expectations were contrasted with identifiable

project outcomes. A social network analysis reviewed

contextual conditions, mechanisms of intervention,

and processes that led to the project outcomes. The

evaluation also analyzed interviews with project

participants. Some interviews employed techniques

of video data collection, where project participants

2011.04.22.CPWF WP-IAS-08.draftv3

CPWF Working Paper - Impact Assessment Series No. 06 vii

interviewed key actors regarding their perceptions and

opinions of project outcomes and likely impacts.

Results of the project evaluation reveal that the

CAC process effectively fosters collective action

in watersheds communities. Capacity-building

activities of the project contributed to communities

participating in meetings with multiple organizations

and making collective decisions. In addition, dialogue

and networking activities increased organizational and

political support for communities and local NGOs.

This is an example of higher-level organizations (i.e.,

subnational, national and international) working with

lower-level organizations and communities; in other

words, cross-scale collaboration.

Key outputs of the CAC process included 27

agreements with government authorities with financial

commitments of over US$2 million. These agreements

included projects for conservation, resource

management, agricultural production systems and

potable water systems.

The project produced four outcomes:

1. Increased awareness of water issues amongst

people in the watershed. Distinct problems and

experiences from the upper, middle and lower

areas of the watershed were shared. Better

understanding of others’ perspectives provided

incentives for communities to jointly resolve

problems and establish agreements.

2. Strengthened links amongst community and

environmental organizations. The CAC provided

a forum for community-based organizations

(CBOs) and nongovernment organizations

(NGOs) to communicate and build support

for their agendas with both communities and

government agencies. Such interactions enabled

organizations to establish partnerships and obtain

additional public-sector funds.

3. Enhanced local capacities and relationships with

authorities. New knowledge helped clarify citizen

rights, along with roles and responsibilities of

organizations. The CAC generated dialogue

and, in turn, commitments of government

organizations to work on issues raised by

communities.

4. New priorities and commitments for environmentfriendly

land uses. The agenda of the CBOs,

NGOs and public-sector agencies broadened

beyond water to include land uses such as

agriculture, power generation and forests. Specific

development and conservation practices included

organic farming, waste management, forest

management and reforestation.

Evaluation results show that the CAC process

has the potential to become an international public

good/method that can (a) facilitate community access

to knowledge, technology and skills, and (b) enable

them to participate in decision-making processes in

managing water and other natural resources. Given

the relatively short time frame between project and

evaluation, impacts cannot be realistically assessed.

Social change processes and associated impact

require years to evolve and grow. Nevertheless, the

project activities and outputs have laid important

groundwork for longer-term economic, social and

environmental impacts.

Although the CAC process benefits from the

support of Colombian constitution, similar effective

collective action projects could be achieved in other

locations despite not receiving such support. Civic

organizations (CBOs or NGOs) can influence

government decisions. As lobbying pressures and

accountability for actions increase, government

agencies themselves will have greater incentive to

perform. The CAC process connects the people with

authorities, thereby improving decisions and actions.

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White, D.
Cordoba, Diana

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