REPORT GAFSP-CSO Mission to Republic of Tajikistan August 15-19, 2013

Transcription

1 REPORT GAFSP-CSO Mission to Republic of Tajikistan August 15-19, EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The second GAFSP CSO mission to Tajikistan was conducted last Aug 15-19, 2013, a year after the first mission, three months after the Project started implementing the planned activities according to the PAD and several days before the visit of the WB regional head. The mission team members included Raul Socrates C. Banzuela, CSO Asia Representative (Alternate) to the GAFSP Steering Committee, with local hosts Mr. Azizbek Sharipov, President of the National Association of Dekhan Farmers (NADF), Mr Shoh Sharipov, NADF volunteer and translator and a staff, Mr. Dishold. Mr. Sophanna Khim, Chairman, Irrigation Service Center, Cambodia, failed to travel to Tajikistan because of visa concerns. The Mission talked with seven representatives of six NGOs, two leaders of Water Users Associations, the leader of the National Dekhan Farmers Association (NADF), and two representatives of WB; observed a training course being conducted by the USAID for the NGOs contracted and maybe contracted in the future in building Water Users Associations; visited a woman WUA leader and cotton farmer; and observed a visit-dialogue of World Bank officials with an assembly of Water User Association members. The field visits were conducted in partnership with the Office of Mr. Karimov Nasib Ganievich, the Director of the SI PMU Ferghana Valley Water Resource Management of the Ministry of Amelioration and Water Resource as well as with the Office of the World Bank in charge of the Project, Mr. Bobojon Yatimov, Senior Rural Development Officer, and Farzona Mukhitdinova, Operations Analyst. During this visit, the Mission learned that The Project Management Unit has been set up and is starting full implementation in 3 out of 12 target districts, contracting 6 local service NGOs, two each for public mobilization and coordination, land reform and WUA building. The NGOs were selected from those who submitted Expression of Interest in a public bidding. The Mission was able to conduct short interviews with four of these NGOs who were currently having a training organized by USAID. The national farmer organization, NADF, did not know about the bidding and thus failed to file an expression of interest, although it felt highly qualified to be a local service provider too. Reviewing the feedback of participating CSO representatives during the first consultation last July 2012, the Mission observed that almost all of the recommendations that have been forwarded during that meeting were not responded to in the final implementation plan/pad, notably the inclusion of CSOs/FOs in the governance structure of the project, the link between agriculture, irrigation, food security, nutrition and woman farmer, and the roles of WUAs and farmer associations. Thus, in this report, these feedbacks are re-iterated in the last section of this report, in the hope that some of the plans can be reviewed and revised during monitoring processes. 2. MAIN REPORT 2.1 Background: This is a report of the second GAFSP CSO mission to Republic of Tajikistan, conducted last Aug 15-19, The Mission was conducted by Raul Socrates C. Banzuela, CSO Asia Representative (Alternate) to the GAFSP Steering Committee, with local hosts Mr. Azizbek Sharipov, President of the National Association of Dekhan Farmers (NADF), Mr Shoh Sharipov, NADF volunteer staff and translator, and Mr. Dishold. Mr. Sophanna Khim, Chairman of Irrigation Service Center, Cambodia, failed to join the Mission because of visa problems. The field visits were conducted in partnership with the Office of Mr. Karimov Nasib Ganievich, the Director of the SI PMU Ferghana Valley Water Resource Management of the Ministry of AFA. Report. GAFSP CSO 2 nd Mission to Tajikistan. August

2 Amelioration and Water Resource as well as with the Office of the World Bank in charge of the Project, Mr. Bobojon Yatimov, Senior Rural Development Officer, and Farzona Mukhitdinova, Operations Analyst. 2.2 Objectives (please see Annex 1 Design of Mission) There were two objectives of the Mission: get updates and feedback on the implementation activities of the GAFSP project, called PAMP-2 (Public Employment for Sustainable Agriculture and Water Resource Management Project 2), and the engagement of CSOs at national and local levels on the project orient interested FOs and CSOs on the International Year of Family Farming and VG/RAI processes 2.3 Key Activities The Mission talked with seven representatives of six NGOs, two leaders of Water Users Associations, the leader of a national dekhan farmers association (NADF), and two representatives of WB; observed a training course being conducted by the USAID for the NGOs contracted and maybe contracted in the future in building Water Users Associations; visited an irrigation canal and a cotton farm; and observed a visit-dialogue of World Bank officials with an assembly of Water Users Association members. The NGOs were all busy with the training course and the visit of the WB officials, thus, no time was available during the Mission for a possible orientation session between FOs and CSOs on the International Year of Family Farming and VG/RAI processes. 2.4 Key Information/Findings please see Annex 2 : Highlights of meetings conducted The Project agreement for the GAFSP Project in Tajikistan was signed Feb 3, 2013 and became effective on May 3, 2013, after the Project Management Unit (PMU) was set up and preparatory activities and pre-implementation requirements were met. PAMP-2 was launched through a series of seminars in two districts and in Dushanbe. The PMU, led by its Director, has currently 20 staff members 10 at the central office and another 10 in the regions. The Mission observed indications that the project was in full-scale implementation with all implementing units in place and at work. Contracted NGOs have already deployed their recruited staff on field, some were undergoing a training course with USAID on WUA building, others have produced information materials (e.g., video, brochures, tarpaulins) for the project, while others mobilized WUA farmer-members to meet and dialogue with visiting World Bank officials. The Mission thanked the support and hospitality provided by the PMU and the WB-Tajikistan offices in facilitating this Mission, including having given hard copies of the Project Appraisal document dated October 25, 2012 and the most updated project briefing paper dated August 19, The Project will cover a total of 12 districts and will contract out a total of 24 NGOs, but it is starting implementation in three districts. It will also have a legislative component and a law on WUA will be pushed in the Parliament. The manual work will involve the dredging and cleaning up of both the secondary and tertiary canals and would employ 22,000 farmers and cover 1,500 kilometers. For the three districts, contracts with six local NGOs have been finalized: two for public mobilization and coordination in charge of determining the beneficiaries of the manual work employment program to clean and improve the irrigation canals; two for land reform in charge of providing information to farmers about the Dekhan Farm Code; and another two for WUA building. USAID is currently training NGOs (both the already contracted and the soon-to-be-contracted) on building Water User Associations The national FO organization, National Association of Dekhan Farms (NADF), which is hosting this GAFSP-CSO mission, as well as the first mission conducted last year, was unable to file an expression of interest to be a service provider for this Project. The NADF said they were not aware of the tender/bid, and would have appreciated if WB/government officials AFA. Report. GAFSP CSO 2 nd Mission to Tajikistan. August

3 have informed them about this tender. The NADF feels that it has the experience and the capacity to be a service provider as it had organized 40 WUAs already and produced information materials on this topic, and had worked with government on the land code and Code of Dekhan Farms. NADF was willing to work with AFA in monitoring the implementation of this Project The Project Appraisal Document (PAD) had not specified a Project Steering Committee meeting or FO/CSO participation in the Project Management Unit. The WB official interviewed said that the participation of farmers at policy and management aspect would start with their participation at the WUA level, going up Interview with a woman WUA leader : In our Water User Association, we have 2,700 hectares of land located in seven villages in Tugalang, Jamoat, with 289 farmers. Our association was organized 18 July We have 23 cluster leaders. We are also constructing our office. The most critical problem is the cleaning of the channel/canal. We have 12 gates.. We hope that WB will assist us in the renovation of the canals. We have our own Certificates of Land Use. We cannot sell our land. (She showed her own Certificate of Land Use covering two hectares). In my 2-hectare farm, we have 1.5 has, planted to cotton;.10 ha to carrot,.10 ha to vegetables and maize. We also have a garden of apricot and alfalfa for hay. We reap alfalfa six times a year. We also have 2 cows and 3 sheep s. I also have a small factory for milk/cheese. I buy from members (14 women and 6 men produce milk=sour milk). I want to build bigger factory to improve the quality of cheese and share benefit to neighbors, and members of WUA. 3. Insights, Lessons 3.1. The main strength of the project is that it builds on existing initiatives (PAMPII, USAID FFP), institutions (e.g. Ferghana Valley, WUAs), and capacities (NGOs, USAID WUA model). It likewise addresses tangible, concrete, and immediate issues such as defective irrigation system that affects productivity and strategic and systemic issues such as institution building (i.e., WUAs, Mirobs), and policy reforms (i.e., legislative and executive policies on WUA building and creation of Ministry of Water Resources). Information dissemination on land reform is also a very important intervention given that a research has pointed out that the main reason why the Dekhan Code was not broadly implemented was the lack of information among the farmers (85%). The project also has strong anti-corruption measures utilizing transparency mechanisms, broader information campaigns, and local NGO and government participation Achieving increase in income by 10% because of this set of interventions is maybe achievable. But 10% increase in income may not make a major difference in poverty eradication in the absence in the project design of other productivity (i.e., extension and credit), marketing (eradicating traders' control), and governance (civil service capacity building and people's participation in governance) measures. Sustainability in maintaining the infrastructures developed during the project will remain to be a big question if WUAs are not able to diversify their capacity from being efficient irrigation system managers to also becoming effective extension, marketing, political representation service providers. The project is also gender-blind and has not taken into consideration issues of women farmers. Projects that would address these may need to be started or sought to further complement and achieve higher degree of success of project's small farmer actors in the long run. 3.3 Institutional Arrangement. The project's institutional arrangement is built on the strength of the Ferghana Valley. The Mission Team was very much impressed by the technical and management experience of the current Project Director, if the level of project implementation AFA. Report. GAFSP CSO 2 nd Mission to Tajikistan. August

4 accomplishments would be the standard. He also knew how to manage the project's stakeholders--if the experience of the Mission Team would be an indication. However, management is one thing, project governance is another. The absence of a multistakeholder plan and budget approval, monitoring and evaluation oversight mechanism such as a Project Steering Committee limits higher-level stakeholder participation and inputs, and limits management accountability. Most GAFSP projects in Asia have in one way or another set this mechanism up in coherence with the nature of GAFSP itself, which structure provides meaningful participation of producers organizations and NGOs at the Global Steering Committee and requires country-led proposals to set up same multi-stakeholder mechanism at the country level. FAO, IFAD, and Producers Organizations/NGOs are members of GAFSP Steering Committee and these institutions are active in Tajikistan. Yet they are not involved in Project Governance in the GAFSP-Tajikistan project. The GAFSP CSO Asia representative missed this issue when the GAFSP Steering Committee approved the PAD Role of Producers/Farmers Organizations. The other important issue that needs to be dealt with here is the long-term view of the Project Implementors on the role of farmers /producers organizations in project governance, service delivery, and national policy reforms. Earlier mentioned was the consignment of NGO service delivery role at local level implementation. There is no mention whatsoever on the possible roles of NGOs, especially producer/farmer organizations, in project governance and policy reforms. Because there was no inventory and mapping first of institutions (NGOs and Producers Organizations) who may have the capacity to undertake the tendered activities, as recommended in the first CSO Mission report, it is possible that some capacities and institutions may have been left out given the largely publication-based tendering of Expression of Interest. The Mission Team had, for example, learned that the National Association of Dekhan Farmers (NADF) have experience in WUA building, having organized 40 WUAs over the years and produced a manual on it written in both Russian and Tajik, yet it was not able to participate in the bidding process. They just didn't learn about it. How many other institutions have been left out in the process, the Mission does not know. There seems to have been no proactive measures from the bidding institution to reach out to them. It is interesting to note that NADF was the one who organized the CSO consultation on the PAMP II project in July of 2012, which a WB official attended. 4. Policy Reforms. The second important component of the project is policy reforms. It was mentioned in the PAD that radical changes would be happening in the transformation of institutions from MWARM to MWR, from district level service provision to Mirobs -level. The Mission is not very clear how this will be undertaken and what factors are present to more or less give the confidence that reforms will be achieved. The Mission believes organizational transformation in the bureaucracy is always a contentious political process that would need people and institutions that have the social capital and competence to effectively lobby the changes along the Tajikistan's bureaucratic and legislative mechanisms. The Mission asks who would be these people and institutions. Again, the Mission learned that the NADF's Chief played an important role in the formulation of the Dekhan Code, a legislative lobbying capacity the project may need and maybe missing as it deals with the policy reform component. Again, there maybe similar institutions that are left out. 4. Recommendations, Action Points 4.1. Given these findings and insights, the Mission would like to re-iterate the recommendations given by CSO participants during the CSO consultation held last July 2012, which was also attended by representatives from WB and PAMP-1 officials. a stronger coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture who is in charge of food security and who is promoting crop diversification, and the Water Ministry who is providing the water source for the farmer. Include in the training of WUAs important topics such as crop management, sustainable agriculture including diversification of crops, and independent, self AFA. Report. GAFSP CSO 2 nd Mission to Tajikistan. August

5 governance, including helping them buy the needed machineries, even if through credit. provide social infrastructures (e.g. daycare, schools, equipment) so that women farmers get more involved in the project (and thus earn more in the process) and in the farmers organizations. In areas where there are dekhan farmers association and water user association, help farmers so they are able to define the roles of each association and coordinate their work properly. The link between irrigation, agriculture and food and nutrition security has to be established, and one possible strategy to do this is to ensure that irrigation water reaches the farmers, especially the women farmers, and crops that are planted in the family farms are able to provide many of the nutrients that the family, especially the children, needs. Proper representation and significant involvement of FOs and NGOs and other intergovernmental institutions notably FAO and IFAD in the governance structures of the Project. an inventory or mapping of all those who work in the irrigation and health/nutrition sector, both at national and local levels, and include them in the implementation and monitoring of the project Utilizing local capacities and its Asian network, the work of the CSO Asia Representative in the succeeding years in Tajikistan will be focused on monitoring the degree of achievement of project implementation and determine how far and meaningful are the roles being played by NGOs and producers organizations, and also by other GAFSP stakeholders such as FAO and IFAD. submitted : September 30, 2013 ANNEXES 1 Design of Mission, Kyrgyz, Aug Highlights of Meetings Conducted, Kyrgyz, Aug PPT on PAMP2 as of August 2013 AFA. Report. GAFSP CSO 2 nd Mission to Tajikistan. August