Workshop on Benchmarking in Irrigation and Drainage & Quality Assurance (September 2005, Beijing, China)

Presentations (2.96 MB PDF)
Papers Presented (2.41 MB PDF)

CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSITIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING PROGRAMME

François Onimus, Hector Malano

General Report

The attendance to the 2005 ICID Benchmarking Workshop was quite important. The eight presentations delivered and the discussions that took place during the workshop showed a continued commitment in many countries to the benchmarking initiative, with various levels of achievement.

• In Australia, ANCID has developed and is operating a benchmarking system that is recognized by the Irrigation Service Providers and by the Government as a workable tool to gather useful information, allowing better monitoring of the irrigation sector; moreover, a continuous refinement process is in place and ANCID benchmarking process is now fully funded by the participating water provider businesses.
• In West Africa, ARID uses the results of several development projects and technical assistances to establish comparisons of comparable schemes; a typology is proposed to define criteria of comparability.
• In France, AFEID is implementing a formalized benchmarking process based on the on-going experiences initiated by some Irrigation Service Providers (ISP); Some ISP already work together either to find solutions to specific problems they face, or to adapt to the important changes of their environment, or to establish strategies in order to face common threats.
• In Egypt, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation started a pilot benchmarking project with the support of the World Bank; first results are available and circulated among the users, but they need to be interpreted.
• In Mexico, the National Commission for Water (CAN) uses a grid of rating in order to establish formalized comparison of irrigation schemes using a set of indicators, each indicator being weighted according to its given importance.
• In Asia, Rapid Appraisal Process (RAP) is used with the support of FAO as an effective tool for irrigation service assessment. Training is an important part of the process and a driver towards performance enhancement.
• In Morocco, the Ministry of Agriculture established some specific indicators related to the main issues for long term sustainability of irrigation and drainage. A set of policies and actions are established and applied for performance improvement.
  Lessons learnt from there various presentations are the following:
• There is diversity in the benchmarking approaches throughout the world. This diversity concerns the set of indicators as well as the leadership, the objectives, the method used and the circulation of the results and how they are presented to the "users". Main users are the Government on one hand and the scheme managers on the other hand.
• There are also various ways for launching a benchmarking approach: starting from the method or tool (ASIA / RAP) and using available information (ARID), or establishing first the set of indicators according to the objectives (Morocco, Egypt, Mexico), or formalizing local benchmarking initiatives like in France. Leadership may be even more important than the drivers: the benchmarking process needs to be supported until the benefits appear to the beneficiaries of the process.
• Communication is another key issue, as the process could be viewed negatively by those who are not achieving successful results compared to the others. Results should be circulated with due care and explanation to avoid misinterpretation. Local specificities must be taken into account when comparing indicators.
• An external input is useful to launch a formalized benchmarking process. It has a cost, which shall be supported by external funds in a first step. Users may take it in charge once benefits become clearer. Government has always an interest in the results even if the process is managers' led.
• Valuable existing data shall always be used in a first step when available in order to reduce the cost and rapidly produce results.
• Training is an issue. There is a lack in business management capacity in the ISP.

Propositions for the future benchmarking programme

Background

The benchmarking initiative in the irrigation sector was instigated by IPTRID, IWMI, ICID and the World Bank in 2000. Under this collaborative arrangement each partner undertook separate but at times overlapping roles. ICID provided a vehicle for the dissemination, advocacy and debate through its yearly IEC meetings and National Committees.
IWMI focused its effort on the development of a database based Website which enabled agencies from member countries to upload their benchmarking data and establish comparisons with other systems around the world. The Website also has the capacity to performance limited benchmarking analysis based on system typology. The database structure is based on a set of benchmarking guidelines developed early in the program.
IPTRID played an important roles in assisting several water authorities and countries including India, Malaysia and China to start their benchmarking effort.

The initial program envisaged that after a period of time there should be a revision of the guidelines and program directions on the basis of the experience gathered from various country and agency benchmarking programs.

Broad Future Responsibilities

At the benchmarking workshop held during the IEC meeting in Beijing, it was agreed that there is now sufficient experience to take stock of the present state of the program and review the role played by the various partners to be later followed by a more detailed review of the direction of the program.

The preliminary discussions produced a general agreement on the broad areas of focus and interest between IPTRID, IWMI and ICID. These are :

• IWMI is still committed in managing the Benchmarking Website. Regarding the OIBS, a special attention shall be given on the quality of the data. Apart from collecting information about the OIBS indicators, the website would provide information about the various benchmarking approaches observed in various countries: initiative, leadership, cost, users, tools, communication, indicators, etc. As a matter of fact, the website could include case studies, list of contacts, list of indicators effectively used and their objectives, measurement and communication tools, FAQ, group discussions, etc.
• IWMI is interested in Benchmarking research. Research issues could be defined according to the needs of the operators actually implementing benchmarking approaches. A special inquiry may be necessary to get more precise ideas about these needs.
• ICID will continue the dissemination of irrigation benchmarking in member countries through National Committees and annual international and regional ICID events, thus providing a forum for debate of country experiences and research results. The link with the activities of the Performance evaluation working group should be developed.
• IPTRID is ready to collaborate and take part in the activities and to explore the idea of reviewing/upgrading the guidelines.
  

There is now a need to design a program with some activities, outputs and time frame. This program may be used to seek some funding for benchmarking efforts.

Workshop on Benchmarking of Irrigation and Drainage Systems, 2002, Montreal, Canada