COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION:

We feel pleased to share that the project’s first Farmers’ Organization (FO) was formed in the Nari river basin on October 21, 2017 in the Bakhra Ghulam Bolak area scheme site in the Sibi district. The Social Safeguards Specialist elaborated the process and structure of FOs during the introductory session. Representatives of the irrigation, agriculture and forest departments and PIU staff explained the component specific project activities. Subsequently, 58 members of General Body of the FO elected the nine FO Executive Body members, including Chairman, Vice Chairman, General Secretary, Finance Secretary and five members. The FO was formed under Balochistan BIDA Act 1997. The Regional Forest Officer and PIU team including Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Irrigation, SDO Public Health Engineering (PHE) and PIU colleagues participated in the whole process. Initially, two different Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) of Bakhra Ghulam Bolak 1 and 2 were formed. These WUAs were federated into FO, in consonance with the two tier process of social mobilization.