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A central challenge for effective watershed
management is improving the welfare of residents who
live in upper catchments while providing adequate
environmental goods and services to people and
areas downstream. A CPWF project, Sustaining
Collective Action Linking Economic and Ecological
Scales in Upper Watersheds (SCALES), addressed
this challenge in three sites.1 This document is an
evaluation of a project activity that intended to
enhance collective action in one site: the Coello
watershed of Colombia.
Collective action can influence how people use
and manage natural resources. It is a process by which
voluntary institutions (e.g., rules and regulations)
are created and maintained, often with the aim of
improving human and environmental welfare and,
especially for water resources, it typically involves
a broad range of stakeholders who control, use and
benefit from water. Examples of stakeholders include
government, private businesses, landowners, farmers,
and city dwellers.
The SCALES project researched and fostered
collective action. The Conversatorio of Acción
Ciudadana (CAC) served as the collective action
mechanism to promote civil society participation in
public policy decisions. Supported by the Colombian
constitution, the legal power of CACs enable
communities to discuss policies and reach agreements
with government authorities.
People in the Coello watershed confront water
problems that affect their livelihoods. Contamination
and deforestation are two major causes of water
resource degradation, in terms of both water
quality and flow regulation. Specifically, fertilizer
contamination of water supplies and sedimentation
of waterways negatively affect downstream
communities. The watershed also faces competition
for water supplies. Water is extracted from natural
waterways for both rural irrigation and urban
household consumption.
A CAC is more than a large meeting to talk and
make decisions. The CAC is a four-phase process
that enhances the effectiveness of local participation:
(1) awareness-raising, (2) capacity-building and
preparation (3) CAC implementation, and (4) review
and planning. The CAC mechanism has brought
together diverse actors and fostered collective action
across spatial and social scales. Many types of actors
have participated, including local NGOs, upstream
and downstream community representatives,
politically important actors (at municipal, provincial
and national levels) and scientific experts in research
and development (R&D).
The objective of this review is to evaluate the
impact of the CAC process. Evaluation methods
included analysis of SCALES project reports and
documentation on impact pathways, interviews and
social networks. The intended project outcomes, as
identified by the project implementers themselves,
served as the starting point for the analysis. These
expectations were contrasted with identifiable
project outcomes. A social network analysis reviewed
contextual conditions, mechanisms of intervention,
and processes that led to the project outcomes. The
evaluation also analyzed interviews with project
participants. Some interviews employed techniques
of video data collection, where project participants
2011.04.22.CPWF WP-IAS-08.draftv3
CPWF Working Paper - Impact Assessment Series No. 06 vii
interviewed key actors regarding their perceptions and
opinions of project outcomes and likely impacts.
Results of the project evaluation reveal that the
CAC process effectively fosters collective action
in watersheds communities. Capacity-building
activities of the project contributed to communities
participating in meetings with multiple organizations
and making collective decisions. In addition, dialogue
and networking activities increased organizational and
political support for communities and local NGOs.
This is an example of higher-level organizations (i.e.,
subnational, national and international) working with
lower-level organizations and communities; in other
words, cross-scale collaboration.
Key outputs of the CAC process included 27
agreements with government authorities with financial
commitments of over US$2 million. These agreements
included projects for conservation, resource
management, agricultural production systems and
potable water systems.
The project produced four outcomes:
1. Increased awareness of water issues amongst
people in the watershed. Distinct problems and
experiences from the upper, middle and lower
areas of the watershed were shared. Better
understanding of others’ perspectives provided
incentives for communities to jointly resolve
problems and establish agreements.
2. Strengthened links amongst community and
environmental organizations. The CAC provided
a forum for community-based organizations
(CBOs) and nongovernment organizations
(NGOs) to communicate and build support
for their agendas with both communities and
government agencies. Such interactions enabled
organizations to establish partnerships and obtain
additional public-sector funds.
3. Enhanced local capacities and relationships with
authorities. New knowledge helped clarify citizen
rights, along with roles and responsibilities of
organizations. The CAC generated dialogue
and, in turn, commitments of government
organizations to work on issues raised by
communities.
4. New priorities and commitments for environmentfriendly
land uses. The agenda of the CBOs,
NGOs and public-sector agencies broadened
beyond water to include land uses such as
agriculture, power generation and forests. Specific
development and conservation practices included
organic farming, waste management, forest
management and reforestation.
Evaluation results show that the CAC process
has the potential to become an international public
good/method that can (a) facilitate community access
to knowledge, technology and skills, and (b) enable
them to participate in decision-making processes in
managing water and other natural resources. Given
the relatively short time frame between project and
evaluation, impacts cannot be realistically assessed.
Social change processes and associated impact
require years to evolve and grow. Nevertheless, the
project activities and outputs have laid important
groundwork for longer-term economic, social and
environmental impacts.
Although the CAC process benefits from the
support of Colombian constitution, similar effective
collective action projects could be achieved in other
locations despite not receiving such support. Civic
organizations (CBOs or NGOs) can influence
government decisions. As lobbying pressures and
accountability for actions increase, government
agencies themselves will have greater incentive to
perform. The CAC process connects the people with
authorities, thereby improving decisions and actions.
