Building Participatory Organizations for Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion in Indonesia. (January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ricks, Jacob I.
• Is Part Of: World development. Volume 77(2016)
• Page Start: 34
• Page End: 47
• Publication Date: 2016-01
• Subjects: common pool resources -- participatory management -- local government -- irrigation -- Southeast Asia -- Indonesia; Economic history -- 1990- -- Periodicals; Economic assistance -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; 330.9
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.08.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-750X

Abstract

Highlights: I evaluate policy efforts to build participatory water user groups in Indonesia. Local political demands determined the success of policy implementation. Farmer training programs appear to have little effect on group activity levels. Frequent contact between bureaucrats and farmers improved group activity. Summary: States are increasingly striving to create participatory local organizations for joint management of common pool resources. What local conditions determine success of such state efforts? What effect do these efforts have? Drawing on controlled comparisons between three districts in Indonesia and an original survey of 92 water user groups, I demonstrate that local political contexts condition the effectiveness of participatory irrigation policies. When irrigation is politically salient, local politicians pressure bureaucrats to better engage with farmers. The data also show that training programs are not as effective at increasing water user organization activity as frequent contact between bureaucrats and farmers.