Social Capital and Irrigation Water Management in Kafr al-Sheikh and Fayoum in the 1950s and 1960s

This chapter covers the period from the 1950s to the 1960s based on the data collected from in-depth interviews with key informants, villagers, and state representatives as well as from group interviews. The first part identifies the actors of the village field, discusses their ability to exercise social capital functions, social control, and collective action, and examines the main social relationships that permitted the exercise of social capital functions. The second part analyzes the formation and functioning of informal water user groups in Kafr al-Sheikh and Fayoum at the mesqa level, examining the degree of autonomy of the irrigation water management field and the extent of the impact of the village field on irrigation water management in both governorates.

Conclusions

This chapter outlines the general conclusions of the research and the book based on the analysis of the four case study areas in Egypt. It also provides the basis for thoughts about a more realistic and critical consideration of social capital theories into the mainstream of community-based natural resource management in general, and irrigation management transfer in particular. The research undertaken for this book show that it was worthwhile to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework for the analysis of social capital to use in place of Putnam's theory and approach, which romanticize traditional village organizations and cannot satisfactorily explain the complexity observed in the case study areas. The findings also provided key lessons to keep in mind when establishing and supporting water users' associations (WUA) at the level of tertiary and branch canals. Among these are the impact of improvements to irrigation infrastructure on farmers' behavior and the functioning of WUAs on the tertiary canal, namely that reducing face-to-face interactions reduces the creation of social capital, social control, and collective action; and that cooperation is not only dependent on the availability of water but is also affected by the autonomy of the irrigation water management field and the assignment of water rights.

Water User Organizations and Social Capital

Chapters 3 and 4 four set out the findings of four case studies in two different governorates, Kafr al-Sheikh and Fayoum, covering two periods: the 1950s and 1960s, and the 1970s onward. They described and analyzed similar village fields and contrasting irrigation water management fields. This chapter draws on this material to examine the role played by social capital in influencing the functioning of water users' organizations (WUOs). First, it sets out the findings from using the developed framework in the four case study areas. This is followed by a discussion, based on these findings, of the limitations of Putnam's theory and approach in explaining the impact of social capital on the functioning of WUOs. Next, it discusses the enhancements of the conceptual framework based on the empirical findings and their theoretical implications. Finally, the chapter looks at how the framework can be generalized.

Social Capital and Irrigation Water Management in Kafr al-Sheikh and Fayoum since the 1970s

This chapter identifies and describes the conditions of the village and institutional fields since the 1970s in the case study areas in Kafr al-Sheikh (KSH) and Fayoum, which were influenced by the socioeconomic, institutional, and technological changes discussed in the literature. It examines the impact of these changes on the village field interactions, and thus the formation of collective action and the exercise of social control, and the extent to which these changes affected the irrigation water management (IWM) field. This chapter is divided into two sections. The first examines the changes that have affected the village field actors and their ability to exercise the social capital functions, social control and collective action, as well as changes to the main social relationships in the village field. The second analyzes the formation and functioning of water users' organizations in KSH and Fayoum on the mesqa and branch canal levels. It considers the impact of changes on the autonomy of the IWM field and the extent to which the village field influences irrigation water management in both governorates.

State, Society, and Irrigation Management in Egypt

This chapter brings together the different elements that explain irrigation water management in Egypt and how it has changed over time, leading to the initiation of irrigation improvement projects and the formation of water users' organizations (WUOs) from the late 1980s onward. It looks at the role of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the customary social organizations (informal water user groups) for irrigation water management, and how they have changed over the past sixty years. It outlines the different irrigation improvement projects and discusses the objectives of the Egyptian government and donor agencies in the creation of WUOs, and how these have affected the functioning of WUOs at different hydrological levels. Finally, it summarizes the fieldwork strategy used to carry out the research, giving the reasons for the selection of the villages in Kafr al-Sheikh and Fayoum governorates and the author's access to the field.

Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book aims to understand the role played by social capital in irrigation water management generally, and in the recent creation and operation of water users' organizations (WUOs) in Egypt in particular. It examines networks of social relationships and norms and their impact on the exercise of social control and collective irrigation water management practices in Egyptian villages. It focuses on four villages in the Kafr al-Sheikh (KSH) and Fayoum governorates in Egypt, looking at informal water user groups and formal WUOs over two time periods—the 1950s and 1960s, and the 1970s onward—to understand how they function and change over time. The book draws on two main concepts, social capital and community-based natural resource management, which are discussed in the remainder of the chapter.