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Title The Effects of Public Participation on Multi-Level Water Governance, Lessons from Uganda
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/1885/307690; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/307690/3/The%20Effects%20of%20Public%20Participation.pdf.jpg
Date 2020
Author(s) Hassenforder, Emeline; Barreteau, Olivier; Daniell, Katherine; Ferrand, Niels; Kabaseke, Clovis; Muhumuza, Moses; Tibasiima, Thaddeo
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. - 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
Subject(s) Decentralization; Engineering of participation; Multi-level participation; Planning; Rwenzori; Scale; Uganda
Language en_AU
Publisher Springer
Type of publication Journal article
Format application/pdf
Source Environmental Management (New York)
Rights © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Identifier 0364-152X; 10.1007/s00267-020-01348-8
Repository Canberra - Australian National University
Added to C-A: 2023-12-11;09:00:28