The appropriation of the water user association model by a community in the Middle Atlas region in Morocco

Abstract

In Morocco, several projects aim at improving the performance of community-based irrigation schemes. They intend to assign the management to local water user associations, based on a single legally defined model. The created associations usually play only a role as intermediary between irrigation farmers and external institutions. The article investigates the conditions for appropriation of this form of association by an irrigation farmers' community, based on the analysis of the shift from traditional management to management by a formal association in a village of the Middle Atlas in Morocco. The results show that this appropriation process resulted from collective action around a local project. When such appropriation process is successful, it can revitalize the way the community manages water.