Participation, land acquisition, power analysis

The Dampara Water Management Project (DWMP) was implemented in 1998 in Northern Bangladesh for the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The task was to provide flood control to a 15,000ha area which experiences flash flooding several times annually, and the main activity was the construction of a 30k embankment along the Kangsha River. A PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) approach was taken, involving the land owners in the affected area, and the alignment of the embankment was discussed. Public negotiations were held in the fields, going plot-by-plot with land owners for them to decide what part of their land would be expropriated for the building of the embankment. The strategy used was that the people were negotiating with each other, not with the project itself. A power analysis of each community was developed through participatory wealth ranking, which helped ensure protection for the vulnerable, an also worked as a management tool. Project personnel used Venn diagrams to identify each community's powerful people, to be used in staff meetings. While the project's participatory process continued in the communities to the end of the project , assigning and adjusting ratings confidentially amongst staff, helped project social and multi-sector technical personnel to develop a common understanding and coordinated approach with community members.