Our First Farmer’s Organization Formed!

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.

Gender Mainstreaming Initiated

ORIENTATION AT SITE:

The BIWRMDP Gender Specialist, Ms Sara Khan initiated the project’s field based gender activities by delivering a gender orientation session to the 29 women participants of the Bakhra Ghulam Bolak scheme site, in the Nari river basin, in district Sibbi. Gender Specialist emphasized on the need for involvement and engagement of women in the project activities, while stressing mainstreaming of the largely vulnerable women in the socio-economic domains. She highlighted the pivotal role of women in successful implementation of the project’s activities. The Specialist assessed the gender specific needs, capabilities and opportunities for the women in the project, including in the matching grants. She also explained the structure of Farmers’ Organization and its role in project implementation. The women expressed the need for the provision of livestock through matching grants, because they lacked sufficient land for agriculture, and could easily manage livestock care in homes along with managing of household responsibilities.

Preparatory Meeting for Formation of Farmers’ Organization

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION:

The BIWRMDP PMU team comprising Social Safeguards Specialist, Arif Khilji, Gender Specialist Sara Khan and Communications Specialist participated in a preparatory meeting for formation of the project’s first Farmers’ Organization (FO) in the Nari gorge sub-project, Bakhra Ghulam Bolak scheme site in Sibbi district on October 20th.The PIU Sibbi team including SDO Irrigation, Junaid Gichki and representatives of the agriculture,forest andpublic health engineering departments participated in the interactive session. The Social Safeguards Specialist comprehensively discussed the process of FO formation. Gender Specialist provided orientation on the gender action plan and emphasized on mainstreaming gender, especially the largely vulnerable women in the project activities.  The Communications Specialist briefed the participants regarding the pivotal need of communication and documentation for informing, motivating and involving stakeholders for enhanced visibility and outreach. The management subsequently discussed the administrative and logistics arrangements for the event, with Agriculture Officer, Sibbi, Khurram Baig, taking the lead.

Environmental and Social Impact Safeguards Assessment

MEETING & SITE ASSESSMENT:

The BIWRMDP team comprising Deputy Director Environment, Abdul Jabbar, Environment Safeguards Specialist, Maqsood Ahmed and Social Safeguards Specialist, Arif Khilji from PMU visited the District Sibbi on October 6, 2017. They held a meeting with the PIU team, including Deputy Project Director, Sikander Zehri and Field Engineer Abdul Ghaffar. The participants included Deputy Director Agriculture, Sibbi, Mr. Amjad, Agriculture Officer Water Management, Khurram Baig and local elders. They discussed the environmental and social safeguards issues related with the awarded ongoing work of Bakra Ghulam Bolak irrigation scheme located in Sibbi district, in the Nari river basin. The participants subsequently visited the scheme site, where more local community members joined in. The team assessed the potential environmental and social impact safeguards and interacted with the community members. The community members ensured their full support for the project interventions.

Biwrmdp-IDA Mission Meets Secretary Irrigation, Balochistan

COORDINATION MEETING:

The IDA Mission representative, Senior Water Resource Specialist, Sheikh Javed Ahmed and BIWRMD project team comprising Project Director, Abdul Hameed Mengal and hydraulic and procurement engineers, Naseebullah Khan and Farooq Khajjak participated in a coordination meeting with the Secretary Irrigation Balochistan, Muhammad Saleem Awan, at the provincial Irrigation Department, Government of Balochistan, Quetta, on July 20th. The participants comprehensively discussed the project implementation status, lessons learnt and the way forward. The Secretary Irrigation emphasized the need for active engagement and involvement of the district irrigation departments in the project activities. He stressed focusing on water rights and social safeguards of the beneficiary communities in the project intervention areas.