MUFINDI: THE key partners and players in Great Ruaha River Catchment (GRRC) said the ‘Sustainable, Water, Access, Use and Management (SWAUM) program to restore perennial flows in GRR was participatory and useful in the improvement of land and water management practice in the GRRC.
The new initiative was introduced by World Wide Fund (WWF) for nature, through Ruaha Water Program (WWF-RWP) in collaboration the Rufiji Basin Water Board (RBWB).
They said the program used a methodology of social learning and Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (MSP) approach which has improved land and water management practice in the GRRC, improved understanding, involvement and commitment of stakeholders and institutional strengthening by capacity building.
On the 16th May 2016, RWP organized a one-day workshop of MSP/Social Learning held at Mafinga Town in Mufindi District, Iringa Region.
The workshop aimed to give feedback from CDI-Wangeningen, Netherlands training, whereby 7-participants from WWF, 2-Local Government Authorities (LGAs) (Mbarali and Wanging'ombe), RBWB and Zonal Irrigation Unit staff attended the training in Netherlands.
Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) -Wangeningen participants were able to deliver clear message and lead concrete discussion on how Social learning approach can be translated and applied in the local context. Participants committed to apply the approach in their area of work.
The workshop targeted to provide knowledge and experience from SWAUM on MSP/Social learning to key partners and players in the Great Ruaha Catchment.
Stakeholders from SNV, IUCN, USAID/WARIDI program, Ruaha National Park, Rufiji Basin Water Board, 5-Districts Councils, Zonal Irrigation Unit and WWF-RWP staffs attended the Mafinga workshop.
The Principle Forest Assistance (PFA) Pius Kessy, who also a member of Makete District Facilitating Team (DFT) said the approach of SWAUM was good because it employed a bottom-up approach.
He said the new initiative of SWAUM although it was new to them, meant to manage the river and its catchment hence addressed water governance failures in the GRRC.
Mbarali District Community Development Officer (CDO), Anyumbile Seme has also acknowledged to benefit from the program, adding that even the small-scale farmers, and in so doing, improve food security, reduce rural poverty and ensure environmental sustainability.
“The program had many good things but you did not share them in the beginning of program to avoid all lamentation you have got,” she said.
She the program which is coming to an end in June this year has helped to restore water in some rivers like Mbarali and Ndembera respectively, it was supposed to be understand well by key partners and players in the beginning of the program.
MSP principles embrace systematic change, transform institution, work with powers, dealing with conflicts, effective communication, and promote collaborative leadership and fostering participatory learning.
However, the stakeholders have advised the WWF-RWP to extend the period of program so that it can be understood very well and all stakeholders should be involved.
They said program should be lengthened to at least two or three years more, so that it can be implemented effectively by all stakeholders.
WWF-TZ Freshwater and Climate Change Coordinator, Keven Robert said that implementation of SWAUM to restore perennial flows of the Great Ruaha River, most of the stakeholders did not catch-up fully the program because it was a new thing to them.
The team has learnt that these attributes have not very much put in practice in the SWAUM program implementation to a such extend that many collaborative actions/initiates have been operated on emergency models, thus led to reluctant support from stakeholders.
Robert said that the objectives of phase II of the WWF-Tz initiative – now known as ‘SWAUM’ - were: to improve land and water management practice in the Great Ruaha River; to improve understanding, involvement and commitment of stakeholders in these practices; and institutional strengthening by capacity building.
Building on – and learning from – phase I, the focus of SWAUM was based on water governance and particularly the implications – and opportunities – it poses for relations between the Rufiji Basin Water Office (RBWO) and its water institutions, and the institutions of local government and those of other sectors (e.g. agriculture, mining), and also for upstream-downstream dynamics in the Great Ruaha River Catchment (GRRC).
“The new approach of SWAUM was meant to manage the river and its catchment which was also meant to address water governance failures,” he said.
The first phase of WWF initiative ran from 2003-2010 with second phase scheduled from 2011-2016 but it is coming to an end June this year.
“To overcome associated institutional constraints, both between formal organizations and with communities, and better facilitate learning and effectiveness, the team felt that a multi-stakeholder dialogue process (MSP) aiming at improving collaboration arrangements would be needed, “said Robert.
Robert said in order to maximize the potential for learning it was decided to focus on two sub-catchments only – the Ndembera and Mbarali sub-catchments – and the downstream section to Mtera dam.
The outline of the engagement with stakeholders in the first study area, Ndembera sub-catchment downstream to the Mtera dam, was envisaged as a series of annual multi-stakeholder workshops for local stakeholders, between which they would be facilitated in engaging in collaborative initiatives (CIs).
Robert said that the Great Ruaha River is drying up and the reduced flows in the river have been recorded since the early 1990s when complete drying of sections of the river was first observed.
He said the river is now drying up completely for long periods – up to 6 months – in the dry seasons, causing among other things, water shortages for downstream villages, death of animals in the Ruaha National Park, increased conflict between different water users (crop farmers, pastoralists, fishing community), and water shortages at Mtera and Kidatu dams leading to serious national power cuts.
Makfura Evergris, CDO WWF-RWP from Rujewa explained on the challenge of documentation from the participants.
“The issue of documentation is a critical problem among the stakeholders, there is no sustainability for what we have done, WWF we provide report to stakeholders but there is no stakeholder who respond and communicate with us” he said.
He further narrated the issue of monitoring for example, Mbumtiru work which is done there is no response to monitor it.
Finally he explained the issue of sharing the lesson learns so in order to get all short report we have to make message stream.
The SWAUM program has selected the two upstream sub-catchments of Ndembera and Mbarali, the Usangu Wetlands, and the downstream sub-catchment to the Mtera Dam, for the pilot project.
The GRR is also now the focus for the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). The SAGCOT is an inclusive, multi-stakeholder partnership (MSP) to rapidly develop the region’s agricultural potential.
SAGCOT was initiated at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa summit 2010 with the support of founding partners including farmers, agribusiness, the Government of Tanzania and companies from across the private sector.
SAGCOT’s objective is to foster inclusive, commercially successful agribusinesses that will benefit the region’s small-scale farmers, and in so doing, improve food security, reduce rural poverty and ensure environmental sustainability.
The risk-sharing model of a public-private partnership (PPP) approach has been demonstrated to be successful in achieving these goals and SAGCOT marks the first PPP of such a scale in Tanzania’s agricultural history.
It recognizes that “Tanzania faces a water stress situation in many parts of the country.
Past uncoordinated planning for water use, inadequate water resources data and inefficient water use has resulted in water conflicts between energy and irrigation sectors, between irrigation and water ecosystems and conflicts between upstream and downstream water users”.
The Rufiji Basin Water Board (RBWB) and WWF’s Ruaha Water Program (WWF RWP), with support from WWF-UK and funds from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), are working together to address this concern.
Faced with the complexity of water governance – disagreements & conflicts between water users, sectors and levels of government; climate and knowledge uncertainties; limited capacity, particularly among service providers – this initiative is piloting a collective learning approach with catchment stakeholders to enable them to better address the constraints affecting water access, use and management, and ultimately to restore perennial flows in the Great Ruaha.
SWAUM’s goal is to work on the principles set out in the Water Resources Management Act, 2009, deemed fundamental to the realization of the National Water Policy (NAWAPO 2002) and Integrated Water Resources Management.
The Great Ruaha River Catchment, 84,000 km2, contains 12 sub-catchments, the Usangu Wetlands, plus the downstream section to the Mtera and Kidatu dams.
The program has selected the two upstream sub-catchments of Ndembera and Mbarali, the Usangu Wetlands, and the downstream sub-catchment to the Mtera Dam, for this pilot.
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