LACIP

Case Studies

Small and Medium

Infrastructure
Livelihood Support & Promotion of Small Community Infrastructure Project

A single drop gives life to the earth

Background and Identification
The village of Kooz Shah Alam Jor Union Council Mandani is located in Charsadda. It comprises of 85 households which translates to around 600 people. The Major crops grown and harvested in the area are wheat, maize, sugarcane and tobacco. The entire village somehow is engaged with agricultural activities but lack proper irrigation systems in spite of the availability of water for agriculture fields through canal system. A make-shift arrangement of irrigation system had been developed by the people but hardly any water reached the tail end. Moreover, the channel was flooded away by the devastating flood of 2010 which further aggravated the irrigation problems. Due to the bad condition of local irrigation system, people were not cultivating all of their lands and agriculture produce has been reduced to the minimum.

Process
Community physical infrastructure is a major component under the BMZ funded Project LACIP (Livelihood Support and Promotion of Small Community Infrastructure Project) through KfW that is implemented by PPAF through Partner Organizations. Sarhad Rural Support Program (SRSP) is a partner organization of PPAF, and their field teams made a number of visits to the village Kooz Shah Alam Jor to survey and assess the local community problems regarding infrastructure. They introduced the local community about the LACI-Project. When the people of village Kooz Shah Alam Jor learnt that some of the villages in the union council have managed to lift themselves out of the rut of poverty through self-help schemes initiated by the villagers themselves, they started to think about the possibilities that could lead them to improve their living conditions.

The people formed a community organization namely Hilal and registered it with SRSP under LACIP that comprised of 27 members from the village. The community organization provided a platform for the people where they could sit together and plan to solve the problems they faced through communal development activities. The people of the village identified their immediate needs in the Village Development Plan and prioritized the construction of irrigation channel as an urgent requirement. Construction of an irrigation channel is one of the primary needs of the community for promoting agriculture activities of the area and it is aimed at developing an appropriate irrigation system to enhance yield, cropping intensity and expand cultivable area. To overcome this problem, people of the village Kooz Shah Alam Jor through their community organization Hilal, submitted a resolution under the LACIProject requesting for both technical and financial assistance for the construction of irrigation channel. They believed that by the construction of a proper irrigation channel, land productivity can considerably be raised to the required level. This can also sufficiently add to the fertility of the land and can thus increase the yields per acre. The prioritized scheme was technically and socially reviewed by the engineering section of PPAFs Partner Organization SRSP. A resolution along with the technical and social feasibility report of the scheme was submitted to PPAF through head office for further approval. Keeping in view the need of the community, maturity level and capacity of the community organization, the proposed scheme was approved by PPAF and the scheme was awarded to the community organization Hilal. A term of Partnership with the community organization was signed and the first installment was issued to the community organization. Various committees namely the project committee, audit committee and operation and maintenance committee were also formed in the third dialogue and role and responsibilities were assigned to each committee. The scheme was then executed by PPAFs Partner Organization SRSP under the BMZ funded LACIP through KfW. The local community actively participated in the implementation of the irrigation channel scheme. The total length of the scheme is 2890 Ft; it was initiated on November21, 2012 and completed on January21, 2013. The total cost of the scheme was estimated to be Rs. 1,026,000 which translates to EUR 8,745. The local community managed to contribute Rs. 307,800 of the total cost which is EUR 2,623. The scheme has been handed over to the concerned community and is being maintained by local stakeholders. It was decided to collect an amount of Rs. 50/Household/month from member and non-member Households for post completion operations and maintenance costs.

Implementation and Impact

The completion of the irrigation channel has provided a way towards development for the villagers of Kooz Shah Alam Jor. The scheme will benefit more than eighty five households of Kooz Shah Alam Jor and its surrounding villages as well. Easy and timely access of irrigation water has created a new way of income generation through reduction in time and water loss. The Land value of the area/village has also increased. The local community and its farmers have now changed the cropping pattern. By the construction of the irrigation channel, the people have moved a step forward in reducing poverty, and increasing the potential for better and prosperous future.

Small and Medium

Infrastructure