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The Effects of Public Participation on Multi-Level Water Governance, Lessons from Uganda

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Abstract

Water governance occurs at multiple levels, from the local to the supra-national, which are often highly fragmented. The interconnected nature of water requires interactions among these multiple governance levels. Public participation may foster such interactions. Thus, many water management reforms involved decentralization and public participation worldwide over the last decades. Yet, it is not demonstrated how these reforms may improve water resources sustainability. Their analysis in the literature does not show concretely how interactions among multiple levels materialize and are influenced by participation. As such, the question addressed is how interactions among multiple levels of water governance manifest over time in a participatory intervention. Using a case study in the Rwenzori region in Uganda, this article compares the multi-level interactions before and during a participatory process. The latter has been purposely implemented to bridge gaps between local and provincial levels through a participatory planning process centred on the provincial level. Four types of flows were analyzed: information and knowledge, hydrosocial, financial and human. Our analysis shows that using artefacts like the role-playing game and planning matrix fostered bi-directional information and knowledge flows. Hydrosocial flows did not change in depth but the legitimacy of the two organizations implementing the participatory process was reinforced. Project financial flows were injected through a provincial academic institution, who is not a regular budget recipient. They were therefore superimposed on existing budgeting process. We conclude by providing suggestions for the engineering of participatory processes in order to foster more collaborative and effective multi-level water governance.

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Notes

  1. AfroMaison project (2011–2014): “Africa at a meso-scale: adaptive and integrated tools and strategies for natural resources management “funded by the 7th Framework Program of the European Union, theme” ENV.2010.2.1.1-1” [integrated management of water and other natural resources in Africa].

  2. The questionnaires used in the baseline study were common to the five cases of the AfroMaison project (the Oum Zessar watershed in Tunisia, the Inner Niger Delta in Mali, the Fogera woreda in Ethiopia, the Rwenzori region in Uganda and the Drakensberg in South Africa). The complementary interviews therefore allowed understanding of the Ugandan case specifically.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the people who contributed to collect data on the Ugandan case study, especially the teams from Mountains of the Moon University and the Sustainable Agricultural Trainers Network: S. Akaganyira, K. Baha, J. Birungi, G. Bwambale, E. Gumpinger, P. Kusemererwa, R. Lemmens, S. Mwanguhya, R. Mwesige Mujuku and M. Nzdghera. The authors also thank the editorial team and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Funding

This research was supported by the AfroMaison European FP7 research project, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance and the Fenner School of Environment and Society from the Australian National University (ANU). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the European Commission, UNESCO or the ANU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. G-EAU, INRAE, Cirad, AgroParisTech, IRD, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, 361 rue J.F. Breton, BP 5095, 34196, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Emeline Hassenforder, Olivier Barreteau & Nils Ferrand

  2. The Australian National University (ANU), Fenner School of Environment and Society, 48 Linnaeus Way, Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Katherine Anne Daniell

  3. Mountains of the Moon University (MMU), P.O. Box 837, Kabundaire, Fort Portal, Uganda

    Clovis Kabaseke & Moses Muhumuza

  4. Division of Organic Farming (IFÖL), Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria

    Thaddeo Tibasiima

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  1. Emeline Hassenforder
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Correspondence to Emeline Hassenforder.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the European Commission 7th Framework Program ethical standards (2013): http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/fp7/89888/ethics-for-researchers_en.pdf.

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Hassenforder, E., Barreteau, O., Daniell, K.A. et al. The Effects of Public Participation on Multi-Level Water Governance, Lessons from Uganda. Environmental Management 66, 770–784 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01348-8

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