Guidance for operation and maintenance (O&M) of irrigation systems
Maximizing local resources and community participation, Nepal and the Phillippines
The study is commissioned by ILO’s Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) to improve programming for optimal Operation and Maintenance (O&M) in rural infrastructure interventions. The objectives of the mission are:
1. Assess the present status of Operation and Maintenance of diverse irrigation systems in Nepal that have been supported by ILO in the past and extract lessons on Local Resource-Based Approaches (LRB) and Human Rights-based (HRB) approaches that EIIP can use in future approach development.
2. Following the LRB approach in Water Works report, develop a document that can serve as a guide “to encourage a positive and pro-active approach” to effective operation and maintenance of the diverse irrigations systems, by providing illustrations of experiences, good practices and lessons on: employment potential/income earning opportunities of O&M operations, involvement of community, local governments and private sector, capacity-building, use of local resources and technologies, covering crosscutting subjects like gender, environment, vulnerable groups, and good working conditions, and covid-19 related measures, if available.
The tasks leading to these objectives will include review of available secondary information, to determine and to address information gaps, and to prepare an annotated table of contents based on a categorisation of O&M factors to be addressed in future O&M-focused EIIP guides. The proposed document should include prescriptive illustrations of O&M experiences from ILO-supported community irrigation schemes, covering e.g. the use of employment-intensive technologies and local resources and community participation in developing and implementing O&M systems.
1. Assess the present status of Operation and Maintenance of diverse irrigation systems in Nepal that have been supported by ILO in the past and extract lessons on Local Resource-Based Approaches (LRB) and Human Rights-based (HRB) approaches that EIIP can use in future approach development.
2. Following the LRB approach in Water Works report, develop a document that can serve as a guide “to encourage a positive and pro-active approach” to effective operation and maintenance of the diverse irrigations systems, by providing illustrations of experiences, good practices and lessons on: employment potential/income earning opportunities of O&M operations, involvement of community, local governments and private sector, capacity-building, use of local resources and technologies, covering crosscutting subjects like gender, environment, vulnerable groups, and good working conditions, and covid-19 related measures, if available.
The tasks leading to these objectives will include review of available secondary information, to determine and to address information gaps, and to prepare an annotated table of contents based on a categorisation of O&M factors to be addressed in future O&M-focused EIIP guides. The proposed document should include prescriptive illustrations of O&M experiences from ILO-supported community irrigation schemes, covering e.g. the use of employment-intensive technologies and local resources and community participation in developing and implementing O&M systems.