Meeting the differing needs of farmers in a given lowland area: local-level agreements and conventions (Мали)

This practice makes it possible to bring actors with differing interests around the same table to discuss the ways in which the scheme’s facilities and lands will be accessed and exploited.

This practice aims to establish a consensual agreement on the access to and management of schemes and developed lands among the farmers of a given site. Through the facilitation process, it is possible to transfer management responsibility and ensure the peaceful farming of schemes. The social engineering approach focuses on developing the diversifying potential of agro-sylvo-pastoral systems by involving all actors concerned, guarantees the sustainability of investments and prevents farming-related conflicts from arising on scheme sites. The establishment and support of multi-stakeholder platforms fosters a collective dynamic in hydro-agricultural schemes.The multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) brings stakeholders together and involves them in analysing the location assessment and determining any changes required to respond to environmental constraints and needs.
The approach centres on creating MSPs and then strengthening their organisational and institutional capacities to ensure that collaborative and best-fit infrastructure management is delivered by the different user groups, whose interests in the scheme’s easement area may diverge. The management standards and regulations and the roles and responsibilities of all social and user groups are determined by the actors collectively. The first stage involves initiating an internal and critical reflection and discussion process with the different scheme user groups. In the second stage, a consensual agreement is reached on accessing and managing the scheme and lands developed under it. Associations or cooperative structures are set up for each economic sector involved in the scheme’s easement area.
Workshops are prepared for drawing up agreements on the management and exploitation of resources in the scheme’s easement area. It is important to ensure information is provided in a timely manner and that it reaches the widest possible audience. Workshops for drawing up agreements on the management and exploitation of the scheme’s easement area are held, involving:a workshop of at least two days; a general meeting to open the event held in plenary (delivered in the local language); an initial round of sub-group workshops; a second round of group work mixing two or three Groups to tease out potentially conflicting interests; the provision of clear instructions in plenary prior to the group work sessions and of spatial support materials (maps and current and future occupancy charts); clarification of the rights of former occupants and the plot allocation quota for women; summarising proceedings during the general meeting. Organisational structures are formalised. The management/ development plan for the scheme is drawn up. The agreements and rules settled upon are formalised (in writing) and then deliberated by the commune council. A mid-term evaluation of the implementation of local agreements on scheme management and exploitation is carried out along with an assessment of the implementation of the management/development plan for the scheme easement area.
Farmers and village authorities participate in workshops and express their interests and they set out the traditional rules and social mechanisms that should be considered. The commune organises the workshop and participates in the diagnostic exercise by taking part in the discussions. It also deliberates the final agreements established by the actors. Service providers and technical services facilitate the process of drawing up an agreement on the access to and management of the scheme easement area and on the scheme development plan. They organise users into formal associations and support the formalisation of collaboration between the association, users and commune in terms of management delegation. The programme establishes the approach and trains service providers. It contributes to developing the visual aids required for communicating information and for spatial visualisation, and co-funds development action plans by sector.