Stakeholder participatory processes and dialogue platforms in the Mazowe river catchment, Zimbabwe.(Report)

Introduction

At the global level, issues of water scarcity and shifting natural resources management paradigms have helped to push water onto the priority list of international development agencies. In response to increasing water demand and changing global water resources management paradigms, Zimbabwe initiated a water sector reform programme in 1996. Among other things, the stated intentions of the reform were to improve governance of the water sector, bring about equitable access to water, and decentralize water resources management responsibilities from central government to catchment-based water management organizational structures. The Mazowe catchment was selected as a pilot catchment planning project area whose experiences would be used to inform the establishment of other catchment councils in the rest of the country. This paper is based on results from a study carried out to closely follow, analyze and document outcomes of the implementation of water sector reforms in the Mazowe catchment. Major focus is on the utility and effectiveness of stakeholder participatory processes utilized and dialogue platforms created for better stakeholder engagement in the catchment. The study sought to find out the extent of the stakeholders' participation in the water reform process as reflected through their perceptions and awareness of the water sector reforms. It also sought to find out what programmes and activities have been initiated during the reform process to ensure stakeholder participation and effective dialogue processes. The paper presents lessons of experience from the Mazowe catchment that can be used to inform water sector reforms in other developing countries.

Research Questions and Assumptions

One major assumption guides the analysis in this paper and that is, if properly crafted, dialogue platforms can create the appropriate conditions for better stakeholder engagement and decision-making that enables harmonization of different and conflicting interests in river basin management contexts. In other words, the greater the participation of stakeholders in the planning and implementation of catchment management strategies, the greater the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the institutions that emerge from water reform processes. Dialogue enables differences and potential conflicts to be better understood by various stakeholders who can then identify potential solutions together by consensus. Three key questions are useful in exploring this assumption. The first one is, which platforms can be best used or developed to implement river basin management initiatives while enabling more meaningful and smoother exchange of ideas, information and experiences among multiple stakeholder groupings? The second one is, what are the real and potential technical and methodological challenges to river basin dialogue processes and how can they be overcome? Thirdly, what sort of capacity building is required to create neutral spaces and facilitate dialogue among competing users and interests? Ultimately, appropriate and neutral dialogue platforms must be created if meaningful stakeholder engagement is to be realized.

Study Methodology

This study mainly utilized qualitative research methodologies to gather the required data or information, even though quantitative approaches were also utilized in cases where it was deemed more practical to do so. The research methodologies used reflect the importance of analyzing the appropriateness of both process and outcomes in public sector reforms. Qualitative perspectives tend to put a lot of emphasis on people's perceptions, meanings, attitudes, worldviews and belief systems. Patton argues that these dimensions require description of what development outcomes actually mean to the respondents, rather than any scaling. [1] In addition, the same event or outcome may mean different things to different people. In this paper, the analysis of stakeholder participation processes and dialogue platforms in the water sector reform programme relies, to a large extent, on narratives, perceptions and experiences of the people who have been involved in the programme in various ways. An interpretive approach is used to build up a relatively comprehensive narrative relating to the events taking place in the Mazowe catchment, why they happened, how they unfolded, why they unfolded the way they did and the outcomes of the process. A number of research methods were used in data gathering. The methods include review of relevant literature and documents; direct observation through attending catchment and sub-catchment council meetings and workshops; questionnaire-guided surveys; and key informant interviews. Using semi-structured open-ended questionnaires, surveys were carried out to establish the nature and extent of stakeholders' participation in the Mazowe catchment decision-making processes as the reforms were implemented.

A total of 119 household representatives were interviewed in the Musami communal areas (Nyagui sub-catchment) and 105 were interviewed in the Mutoko communal and resettlement areas (Nyadire sub-catchment). In Musami, the household surveys were carried out in the villages of Mushinga, Shangure, Mavhurume and Darare to reflect communal area stakeholder views. In Mutoko communal lands, household representatives were interviewed from two villages namely, Nyamuzizi and Kanyongo. More household representatives were drawn from villages 53, 68 and 74 in the Hoyuyu resettlement scheme to reflect resettlement area stakeholder views. Households included in the survey were selected through systematic random sampling procedures. This entailed the researcher approaching one household to carry out an interview with the household head and then skipping the next household in order to get a wider coverage of the village concerned. Preference for the interviews was given to household heads if they were available. In the event that the household head was not present, another adult family member would be interviewed.