Water governance (L4)

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    Decentralising Zimbabwe’s water management: The case of Guyu-Che- lesa irrigation scheme
    (Journal Article, 2013-09-08) Tambudzai, Rashirayi; Everisto, Mapedza; Gideon, Zhou
    Smallholder irrigation schemes are largely supply driven such that they exclude the beneficiaries on the management decisions and the choice of the irrigation schemes that would best suit their local needs. It is against this background that the decentralisation framework and the Dublin Principles on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) emphasise the need for a participatory approach to water manage- ment. The Zimbabwean government has gone a step further in decentralising the management of irriga- tion schemes, that is promoting farmer managed irrigation schemes so as to ensure effective management of scarce community based land and water resources. The study set to investigate the way in which the Guyu-Chelesa irrigation scheme is managed with specific emphasis on the role of the Irrigation Management Committee (IMC), the level of accountability and the powers devolved to the IMC. Merrey’s 2008 critique of IWRM also informs this study which views irrigation as going beyond infrastructure by looking at how institutions and decision making processes play out at various levels including at the irrigation scheme level. The study was positioned on the hypothesis that ‘decentralised or autonomous irrigation management enhances the sustainability and effectiveness of irrigation schemes’. To validate or falsify the stated hypothesis, data was gathered using desk research in the form of reviewing articles, documents from within the scheme and field research in the form of questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and field observation. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyse data quantitatively, whilst content analysis was utilised to analyse qualitative data whereby data was analysed thematically. Comparative analysis was carried out as Guyu-Chelesa irriga- tion scheme was compared with other smallholder irrigation scheme’s experiences within Zimbabwe and the Sub Saharan African region at large. The findings were that whilst the scheme is a model of a decen- tralised entity whose importance lies at improving food security and employment creation within the community, it falls short in representing a downwardly accountable decentralised irrigation scheme. The scheme is faced with various challenges which include its operation which is below capacity utilisa- tion, absence of specialised technical human personnel to address infrastructural breakdowns, uneven distribution of water pressure, incapacitated Irrigation Management Committee (IMC), absence of a locally legitimate constitution, compromised beneficiary participation and unclear lines of communica- tion between various institutions involved in water management. Understanding decentralization is important since one of the key tenets of IWRM is stakeholder participation which the decentralization framework interrogates.
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    ICT-Based Identification and Characterisation of Small Reservoirs in the Limpopo River Basin in Zimbabwe
    (Other, 2012-08-15) Mulengera, Patrick-M. Bahal’okwibale; Manzungu, Emmanuel; Kileshye Onema, Jean-Marie
    Semi-arid conditions that prevail in the Limpopo basin in general and Zimbabwe in particular emphasise the importance of water storage. In this respect small reservoirs play a critical role in sustaining rural livelihoods. However, the management of small reservoirs in Zimbabwe is negatively affected by missing or poorly coordinated information relating to such key attributes as location, capacity, and environmental condition. A study was undertaken to identify and characterise small reservoirs in the Limpopo river basin in Zimbabwe. The objective of the study was to identify small reservoirs and characterise them in terms of capacity, and chlorophyll-a and turbidity indices, as proxies for measuring environmental degradation of catchments in which these are located. The study was carried out in Gwanda district that is located in South West Zimbabwe. Identification was done by processing Landsat TM 4-5 images of February-March and April-May 2009, using Geographical Information Systems. Time and cost considerations were the main factors in the selection of the technology and the images that were used. Field inspections were used to validate selected parameters from February to April 2011. A total of 256 small reservoirs, with an estimated total capacity of 17 million m3, were identified. The capacities of reservoirs were found to vary widely from around 4,000 m3 to over 650,000 m3. About half (46%) of the small reservoirs were found to be dry by May, just two months after the end of the wet season. Seven reservoirs, which represented 2% of the total number and 3% of the total capacity of reservoirs, were characterised as highly turbid. Twenty-three reservoirs, representing 9% of the total number and 3% of the total capacity of reservoirs, showed signs of environmental degradation in the catchments. The smallest reservoirs were found to be most vulnerable to environmental degradation. The study concluded that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can successfully be used to identify and characterise small reservoirs in the data-poor Limpopo basin in Zimbabwe, and can be used by decentralised water institutions and River Basin Organisations (RBOs) to better manage available water resources for the benefit of rural communities found therein.