3. Assessment Framework
The multi objective assessment framework that has been developed for this analysis is a combination of analysing the key assessment characteristics from various viewpoints and then developing assessment parameters that are important for each of those viewpoints.
The viewpoint assessment has identified four important viewpoints that can be taken in assessing community irrigation schemes.
- Farmer viewpoint.
- Promoter viewpoint.
- Central and local government viewpoint.
- Community/stakeholder viewpoint.
The assessment parameters that have been identified in Studies three and four are:
- Commercial viability.
- Economic contribution.
- Social impact.
The farmers and the scheme promoters are primarily interested in the commercial viability of the scheme. These two groups are the people who are going to invest capital in the scheme therefore their major interest is that of financial viability and profitability. However, they also have an interest in the flow on impacts in terms of what economic and social contribution the scheme will make to the area that it is situated in and outside the boundaries of the scheme. In this sense these people are also part of the community/stakeholder group.
Central and Local government and the community or stakeholder interests are primarily interested in the economic and social impacts of the scheme. It is these people who are required to balance these impacts against any environmental impacts on the area. In some instances these groups are also involved in the promotion of the schemes and therefore they also have an interest in the commercial viability of the scheme.
Figure 2 gives an outline of the assessment framework developed, the left hand column lists the viewpoint and the right hand column lists the broad assessment parameter headings that each of the viewpoint groups is primarily interested in.
Figure 2: Assessment Framework
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Commercial Viability |
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Farmer Viewpoint |
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Promoter Viewpoint |
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Economic Contribution |
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Central and Local Government Viewpoint Community / Stakeholder Viewpoint |
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Social Impact |
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Central and Local Government Viewpoint Community/ Stakeholder Viewpoint |
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The commercial viability assessment is relatively straightforward in that farmers and promoters will judge the worth of a project on whether it achieves satisfactory levels of profitability. This will determine the degree of uptake by the farming community. This commercial viability assessment is undertaken from an individual point of view. Decisions to proceed will be based on whether sufficient farmers recognise sufficient value in the proposition and commit to an uptake rate that is satisfactory to the scheme promoters.
The economic and social considerations are a much more complicated set of assessment parameters that require a degree of balancing of different aspects. There are some important considerations that should be analysed to assist with any balancing decisions.
Significance
Although economic and social impacts can be positive, it is important to be able to determine the significance of those impacts. This should be done by comparing the quantum or degree of change against total economic activity and existing social change. The other important issue is being able to analyse the degree of transformation that a project will make in a community and whether this transformation is in a strategic direction that is welcomed or considered important to the community. Transformation is particularly important in community assessment of large-scale irrigation schemes.
Weighting
As there are a large number of different impacts with significantly different measures there is difficulty in weighting the importance of various parameters. This is particularly so when scheme options are being compared against each other, or when the scheme investment is compared against the opportunity to invest capital in other areas. In some cases a score sheet approach can be used to achieve an overall weighting assessment of the worth of a project. However this approach has the potential to oversimplify weighting decisions and may give an unbalanced assessment. The technique for measuring and assessing parameters does not have sufficient accuracy to be able to give a specific proposition a single overall score on a score sheet approach. In most cases it is far better to adopt an overall balance sheet approach. Creating a list of the individual parameters and then viewing them overall gives the opportunity for a much more balanced assessment.
Timing
Change as a result of development of community irrigation schemes is gradual. Although farming activity will change significantly as soon as water is available to the farms, it takes some time for ownership and land use changes to be completed. Community and social change occurs over a much longer timeframe and is much more gradual. Therefore assessing the degree of change and recognising the timescale required to achieve full impacts is important.
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