Facilitating Collective and Inclusive Decision Making on Integrated Water Resources Management in Burkina Faso

Abstract

In Burkina Faso, more than two-thirds of the population relies on rain-fed agriculture for food and income. However, scarce and insufficient water or irregular rainfall frequently puts farmers at risk of losing their crops. Climate change is making already variable rainfall less reliable. Yet all kinds of water users—farmers, fishers, livestock herders, domestic users, city dwellers, emerging industries–and ecosystems depend on access to water of the right quality, in the right quantity, and at the right time.

During the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food’s second phase of research in the Volta River basin (2010-2013), one research project worked directly with a local water committee in one of the seven sub- basins of the Bougouriba watershed in the southwestern part of the country. By facilitating exchanges between the committee and all its stakeholders, the research team helped the committee to assume its role in integrated water resources management implementation.