Asia
I. Outline of the ProjectCountry : Indonesia
Project title : Empowerment of Water Users Association Project
Issue/Sector : Agricultural, Rural Development
Cooperation scheme : Technical Cooperation ProjectDivision in charge : Poverty reduction/Paddy Field Based Farming Area I, Rural Development Department
Total Cost : 340 million Yen
Period of Cooperation : 1 April 2004 – 31 March 2007
Partner Country's Implementing Organization:
Directorate of Water Resource Management, Ministry of Public Works
Water Resource Management Services, South Sulawesi Province
Water Resource Management Services, Gowa District
Supporting Organizations in Japan : Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Related Cooperation
JBIC "Bili-Bili Irrigation Project"
Development Study "The Study for Improvement of Irrigation System and Empowerment of Water Users Association for
Enhancement of Turnover Program"

1-1 Background of the Project
To reduce financial burden, the Government of Indonesia is promoting the policy, which requires participation of water users
association (hereinafter referred to as "WUA") in irrigation management and operation. However, most of WUAs are notsufficiently functioning for some reasons such as; they have been established without full reflection of farmers' interests orfarmers have not realized the merit to pay irrigation service fee. Moreover, local governments are still not able to support WUAsactivities substantially because of the shortage of skilled human resources and experiences though they have esponsibilities todo so.
To address these situations, the Government of Indonesia proposed the technical cooperation to establish the models ofempowerment of WUAs through the technical guidance to the local governments and farmers in the model areas. In accordancewith this proposal, JICA has been providing supports to the implementation of the Project since April 2004.

1-2 Project Overview(1) Overall Goal
In the area of the Bili-Bili Irrigation System, the proper operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities is introduced throughempowerment of WUAs by Local Government assistance and collaboration between Local Government and WUAs.

(2) Project Purpose
In the Model Area, the model for the proper operation and maintenance of the irrigation facilities is established throughempowerment of WUAs by Local Government assistance and collaboration between Local Government and WUAs.

(3) Outputs
1) WUAs in the Model Area are strengthened.
2) In the Model Area, Irrigation water is distributed efficiently to the farmland.
3) Irrigation facilities in the Model Area are adequately managed and improved based on local conditions.
4) In the Model Area, the farming system with efficient use of irrigation water is introduced.

5) The staff of the Local Government and other stakeholders related to empowerment of WUAs acquire the knowledge andexperience to provide the proper assistance to WUAs.

(4) Inputs
Japanese side:
Long-term Experts

5Equipment

0.26 million US dollarsShort-term Experts

6Local Opration Cost

17 million yen

Trainees Received

10Indonesian Side:Counterparts

43Local Cost

0.13 million US dollars

Land and Facilities

II. Evaluation TeamMembers of the Evaluation Team:DOI Kunihiro

Team Leader: Executive Technical Advisor, Rural Development Department, JICA

YUASA Kazuhiro Empowerment of WUA: Design Division, Rural Development Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries
YUASA Keiichiro

Planning Evaluation: Poverty Reduction / Paddy Field Based Farming Area Team I, Rural Development
Department, JICAITAGAKI KeikoPCM Evaluation: Researcher, Social Development Department, Global Link Management, Inc.

SaifulRochdyanto

Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Gadjah Mada University

Dwi Puryanto

Community Development Division, Directorate of Water Resources Management, Ministry of Public Works

Yopie
Lumoindong

Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Hasanuddin University

Muchlish Amat

Chief of Planning and Programming Division, PSDA South Sulawesi

Period of Evaluation:
13 November 2006 – 1 December 2006

Type of Evaluation:
Terminal Evaluation

III. Results of Evaluation
3-1 Achievement of the Project(1) Achievement of Outputs
It was confirmed that the Project has been implemented as per the plan stipulated in the R/D, M/M, PDM and PO without
notable delays or unprecedented difficulties, thus that the Project would come up with most of its expected outputs by the end ofthe Project period.

Output 1: “WUAs in the Model Area are strengthened.”
The participation rates to General Meeting of WUAs exceeded 80% among the management committee members, however, thetarget participation rates among the farmer members still remains unmet, i.e. 23 to 46% on average, despite of the fact thatsome WUAs were able to mobilize more than 50% of members to attend the General Meeting. The factors attributing to thesevariations may include the timing and venue of the meeting, composition of the members in terms of location of their residencesand WUA affiliation, the members' familiarity to the new systems introduced such as letter of attorney, and so forth. Thecollection rate of water user's fee was 14% at the time of the commencement of the Project, which, with slight fluctuation, has
increased and already reached to 36% in the dry season FY 2006.

Output 2: "In the Model Area, irrigation water is distributed efficiently to the farmland."As the results of the Project activities, the water distribution rate in the tertiary canals in the dry season paddy cropping
increased from 52% in the FY 2005 to 63% in the FY 2006.

Output 3: "Irrigation facilities in the Model Area are adequately managed and improved based on localconditions."
The WUAs in the Model Area have maintained about 50% of the tertiary canal length by the end of September 2006. Based on
the progress records and final accomplishment of the previous years, it is anticipated that the rate will increase to achieve oreven exceed the target rate of 80% by the end of the Project, as the maintenance work will further be continued for the rainyseason cropping. The rate of the quaternary blocks where the quaternary canal development has been commenced is 72%, andthe 41% of total length of the quaternary canals have completed until the dry season of FY 2006.

Output 4: "In the Model Area, the farming system with efficient use of irrigation water is introduced."
The dry season paddy yield has been increasing from 3.5 ton per ha. on average in FY 2004 to 4.4 ton in FY 2005, then further
to 4.7 ton in FY 2006. Although the average yield has not yet reached the target of 5.0 ton for the entire samples, steady andconspicuous increase has been observed in most of the sample plots, while the yields over 6.0 tons are reported in some of thesample plots. The rate of cropping area based on the schedule made by WUA still remains as low as 59% on average, which is
attributed to the insufficient understanding for the part of farmers in terms of different water distribution grouping of their farmplots, to which the Project is already planning to take countermeasures in coming cropping season, i.e. clarification of water
distribution/cropping groupings per quaternary blocks with identification of individual farm plots by means of information
dissemination together with pictorial maps of these groupings.

Output 5: "The staffs of the local government and other stakeholders related to empowerment of WUAs
acquire the knowledge and experience to provide the proper assistance to WUAs."
A total of 173 personnel related to the empowerment of WUAs at central, provincial, district and community levels have alreadybeen trained. The training materials were officially endorsed in June 2006 as the module to be used for the training of relevant
government personnel all over the country. The results of the follow-up evaluation on the status of application of learning fromtraining sessions by the participants are found to be satisfactory. As for the levels of understanding of the training participants,
another measurement is scheduled to be conducted in December 2006.

(2) Prospects of Achieving the Project Purpose
The rate of dry season irrigated paddy cultivation area has been increased from 52% in FY 2004 to 74% in FY 2006, whichexceeded the expected target of 70% of the Model Area. As for the model reference for empowerment of WUAs, the Project iscurrently working on its drafting, covering the different themes such as organizational management of WUAs, watermanagement and irrigation facilities, farm management and irrigated crop cultivation, training and other general issues related tothe activities of WUAs, which would be finalized and published by the end of the Project. Therefore, it is agreed that the project
purpose would successfully be achieved by the end of the Project.

3-2 Summary of Evaluation Results(1) Relevance
The Project is considered to be highly relevant to the policies and programs of the Indonesian government as the Water
Resource Law in 2004 which stresses the needs of empowering the WUAs for proper maintenance and operation has further
been confirmed in the recent Government Regulation. The Project is also in line with the Japanese ODA policy to Indonesia,
which emphasize the poverty reduction through rural development. It is confirmed that the Project has properly addressed to theneeds of the target beneficiaries, i.e. farmers in the Model Area.

(2) Effectiveness
The WUAs in the Model Area are capable of holding regular meeting of the management committee members, formulatingannual activity plans of the WUAs, keeping proper records, collecting water users' fees in a systematic manner, and trying todevelop further their organizations. As their activities are widely recognized by the local government institutions and graduallyknown to the other farmers in the vicinity, their performances are considered as the model for the proper operation andmaintenance of the irrigation facilities. Therefore, the effectiveness of the Project is considered to be high.

(3) Efficiency
Inputs by both Japanese and Indonesian sides were mostly adequate and sufficient in terms of the volume as well as of thequality to produce the intended outputs. The Project has also coordinated with some of the other projects in Bili-Bili irrigation
area related to the empowerment of WUAs in the process of its operations. Thus, the efficiency of the Project is considered tobe high.

(4) Impacts
Positive impacts were observed in terms of the increased yields; which is assumed to have brought about the increase of thefarm income as well. Farmers are also contented with increased occasions to contact with government officials of the relevant
institutions. Changes in behaviors and self-confidence of the participating farmers particularly among the management
committee members of WUAs are also to be noted.

(5) Sustainability(1) Policy and Institutional Sustainability
The necessity of empowerment of WUAs for proper operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities is quite consistent with thecurrent policy; therefore the policy support from the government would continuously be secured. However, further coordination isneeded among the institutions of central, provincial and district governments as well as with the functions of multi-stakeholder
forums so as to consolidate their efforts for effective support to empower the WUAs at the community level.
(2) Organizational and Financial Sustainability
Each institution involved in the Project has its own mandatory role to play in empowerment of WUAs, which has duly been
included in its respective plans, programs and activities with regular budget, which, however, is inevitably of smaller scale than
the Project inputs. As to the organizational point of view, it should be admitted that there has not yet been any collaborative
program among the relevant institutions at working level, although the importance of such collaboration has generally beenrecognized. Thus, organizational and financial sustainability is not sufficiently secured at this time.
(3) Technical Sustainability
WUAs could acquire knowledge and technical skills needed for their activities and farmers could learn cropping technologies
through Project activities. Counterpart personnel also gained skills and experiences which they are confident to make use of in
their duties in the future. The model reference that is being compiled by the Project would officially be endorsed anddisseminated to the relevant institutions by the end of the Project, which would continuously be utilized as technical reference
for the activities of empowering the WUAs in the field. Hence, the technical sustainability is considered to have reached to asatisfactory degree.

3-3 Factors that Promoted Realization of Effects(1) Factors concerning the Planning
The empowerment of the WUAs involves a wide range of activities from the upstream area to downstream of irrigation scheme.
The project had been designed to maximize the involvement of all those relevant to the activities of WUAs in its operational
mechanism. This approach is considered to be highly practical and the comprehensive efforts from different institutions could
contribute to the effective implementation of the Project.

(2) Factors concerning the Implementation Process
The project has hired as its own staff the personnel of an NGO which has been in operation in a part of the Model Area. Theirknowledge on and already established rapport with the target communities, including human network, have considerably beenfacilitating for the process of Project implementation. As these NGO staffs are directly involved in the Project as a part of theteam, expertise of field operations has been shared among all project personnel including those from the government sectors.

3-4 Factors that Impeded Realization of Effects(1) Factors concerning the Planning N/A(2) Factors concerning the Implementation Process N/A

3-5 Conclusion
The Project has successfully been implemented without any major or critical problem and will mostly achieve its outputs by theend of the technical cooperation period. Prospect of achieving the Project purpose is evaluated high with continuous efforts thatare quite likely to be made for the rest of the project period.

3-6 Recommendations
3-6-1 Recommendations for the remaining period of the Project(1) As for the activities which are yet to achieve the target output indicators, it is essential to analyze the hampering factors andtake possible countermeasures, while continuously monitoring the indicators. Possible efforts to address to the unmet target
should be incorporated as much as possible in the Project activities to be implemented for the rest of the Project period.
(2) Considering the limited time left for the Project, it is necessary to accelerate the process of compilation of the model
reference documents to make them practical and applicable, reflecting the real experiences of the Project activities

3-6-2 Recommendations for the future (after the completion of the Project)(1) In order to disseminate the outcomes of the Project in the form of the model reference to the other areas in Bili-Bili irrigationarea, it is necessary for the relevant institutions of the Indonesian Government to formulate the practical and feasible plan,
which clearly stipulates the roles of each institutions, concrete methods and modality of implementation, time frame, sources offunds, contents of activities and so forth.
(2) As the empowerment of WUAs requires comprehensive approach to address various technical and social aspects, it isessential to consolidate the efforts to be made by different stakeholders for overall capacity development of WUAs. Therefore,
further enhancement of coordination mechanism is necessary to establish a platform for the functional and sustainable
coordination among all those who are relevant to the activities of WUAs.
(3) During the Evaluation Study, it has been pointed out b that water distribution to the tertiary canal levels is not yet sufficient orstable. It is thus required to enhance the water distribution efficiency at the higher levels, i.e. secondary and primary canals,
headworks, as well as at the water resources, for which further capacity building of the WUAs and relevant institutions would benecessary.
(4) The Project aimed primarily at piloting the process of empowerment of WUAs in the Model Area,
however, it also aimed at providing useful references for any effort to empower WUAs to be made by relevant institutions not
only in South Sulawesi Province but in the entire country. Therefore, the central government is expected to take measures towidely disseminate the outcomes of the Project through various channels, so that they would be applied in the other areas of thecountry with possible modification based on the local situations.
(5) As the offices responsible for empowerment of WUAs are not allotted with the sufficient number of field staff who can directly
guide all WUAs in their jurisdiction, existence of the mediators between the community and government functionaries may be ofgreat importance in the mobilizing the farmers for further empowerment of WUAs. It is desirable to incorporate such functions offield facilitation in the measures to be taken to organize and guide the WUAs especially at the initial stage, thus to promotelinkages with existing entities at the local levels.

3-7 Lessons Learned(1) In case of the projects with activity components to be implemented directly at the community levels, there may be various
aspects to be taken into account, including language barriers, cultural norms, traditional values, gender situations, behavioral
patterns, and so forth. For such activity components, special operational modalities should be built which are not limited to theexisting government functionaries, for example, with involvement of local NGOs and other entities that have experiences in andrapport to the target communities.
(2) The existence of proper records and accurate data on project activities of the project is quite helpful to precisely grasp theprogress and achievement of the project. Though it may require extra time and efforts of the project personnel, clarification ofaccurate and detailed data in terms not only of project indicators but also of relevant activities would provide firm base forprogress monitoring and evaluation, thus contribute to the sound management of development projects.