ABSTRACT
In 1976 the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) of the Philippines began experimenting with a participatory approach to irrigation development. On two small-scale irrigation projects in one municipality, the agency tried involving the farmers from the very beginning in planning and implementing the improvements to their irrigation systems. While NIA had provided assistance to small scale gravity irrigation systems for many years, it had previously approached the task primarily in terms of constructing physical structures either to improve and expand an existing system or to create a new one. Under the participatory approach, once initial feasibility work determined that the site was suitable and farmers desired construction assistance, an NIA community organizer was sent to an area. Experience with the participatory approach indicated it improved the economic and social impact of the projects in a variety of ways. The planning and construction of a small-scale irrigation system involved fifteen to thirty months of intense effort.
