Self-organisation for improved governance

Small business enterprise: In Guatemala, WANI was instrumental in supporting the emergence of a youth-run cooperative enterprise called ‘Jóvenes en la Missión’ (Youth in Mission, JEM). JEM began as a Catholic environmental education initiative run by a group of young volunteers promoting sustainable water use and watershed restoration.

 

Microwatershed model: The Tacaná project developed a water planning and community management model based on:

  • Broad community participation and recognition of Microwatersheds as a planning unit.
  • The involvement of local political authorities in environmental management,
  • Building community capacity in IWRM, and
  • Forging strategic collaborations with government and nongovernmental organisations.

The Microwatershed model is inclusive, highly participatory and based on strategic collaborations. In Guatemala, Microwatershed councils encompass 10 to 20 communities who share water resources in the watersheds of tributary streams. The councils are organized to coordinate resource management and, critically, how this can be integrated with community development. The Microwatershed councils join each other together and therefore expand their actions to include watershed management at different scales.

The Councils were recognised by local governments from the start as town mayors participated in the organisational process. Engaging the right stakeholders in the process enables better uptake and ownership of apporach.

  • Projects developed by communities rather than external institutions address the real demands of communities, not just institutional goals.
  • The micro-watershed model was central to the achievement of the project’s objective of building the adaptive capacity of the watershed and local livelihoods through empowerment of community-owned institutions. With support from the Tacaná project, communities built micro-watershed councils to lead watershed restoration and development that met their priorities.