Following the development of a regional system to enable the effective Monitoring & Evaluation of participatory irrigation management (PIM) and Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) process in the SWIM Partner Countries (PCs), SWIM-SM is now proceeding with a pilot implementation of the system in two PCs, namely Jordan and Tunisia.

The kick-off meeting of the pilot implementation in Tunisia was organized in Tunis on 16 January.

The kick-off involved a meeting with the National Agencies responsible for implementing the PIM/IMT program in the country, the Direction Générale du Génie Rural et de l’Exploitation des Eaux (DGGREE) and the Bureau de la Planification et des Équilibres Hydrauliques at the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources, both represented by the respective General Directors and other officials.

It has been an occasion to familiarize them with the Regional Monitoring & Evaluation system (M&E) set-up in 2013 by SWIM-SM and to gather their advice on the most effective implementation strategy to apply. An important outcome of the meeting, the Tunisian Focal Point for this activity was selected at DGGREE as well as one of the two Water Users Associations (WUAs) that will be piloting the implementation, namely the Chatt Meriem Groupement de Développement Agricole, located in the vicinity of Sousse and responsible for all activities related to the management of the irrigation water. The second one, with different features (located in the interior of the country and with low cropping intensity) will be proposed to the SWIM-SM Team by DGGREE in the near future.

The main purposes of the proposed M&E system include providing the WUAs with a management tool that will permit to evaluate their own performance, identifying limitations, and achievements and propose action to improve their performance. The system will allow comparison between WUAs within the country itself and also permit the irrigation agency concerned (DGGREE) to evaluate their actions in support of the PIM/IMT program. Even in a country like Tunisia, where there is a long experience in the implementation of the PIM/IMT, the proposed system could provide a useful overview of the present situation and also be used for the comparison of targets and “benchmarking” among the South Mediterranean countries.

PIM/IMTis an approach involving the people who directly use the irrigation water, i.e. the farmersand implying the transfer of irrigation management responsibilities from the government to Water Users Associations (WUAs),which in the long term can result in a more effective management of the resources, as many examples worldwide and in the Mediterranean Region show.

To read the report of the kick-off meeting and download other materials click here

To read the report of the kick-off meeting in Jordan (presented in the previous issue of SWIM-SM newsflash) and download other materials click here