FIELD RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR FIVE MASTERS THESIS STUDENTS
Social water management in NORTH Afghanistan: governance, livelihoods and technology in five irrigation systems in the Kunduz region
Field research period from March 2006 (three students) and March 2006 (two students); minimum field work duration: 12 weeks
ZEF (Center for Development Research/Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung, Bonn, Germany) will implement the research component of the European Union funded project ‘Social Management of Water in Afghanistan. (Kunduz River Basin Programme)’ coordinated by the Deutsche Welt Hunger Hilfe (DWHH)/German Agro Action (GAA). ZEF will implement the research in co-operation with the Afghan university in Mazar-i Sharif. For the conduct of the field research ZEF is able to finance five expatriate master students, who will work together with students from the Afghan University in Mazar-i Sharif. A research supervisor (ZEF postdoc) will coordinate the field studies. The selected Masters students will be supervised and receive their degrees in their home universities, while ZEF provides financial and logistic support and supervision for the field work period. The project is based in Kunduz, and integrated in the DWHH/GAA project and security framework. Students are envisaged to stay in the research sites (five irrigation systems/villages) for most of the fieldwork period. For good preparation of the field research, ZEF seeks to contact interested students at an early stage.
Project description
The DWHH/GAA Social Water Management project
“aims at building sustainable social and technical water management capacities in the Kunduz River Basin (KRB) of North Afghanistan. Local communities in rural areas are strengthened in (re-) building their capacity of effectively managing their water resources while integrating all sections of the population in the process. The target group consists of approximately 250.000 rural people living in five irrigation areas of Kunduz and Takhar Provinces, who shall benefit as water users from the project. The proposed project will focus the erosion of traditional knowledge and social managing skills of local communities on their water resources and distribution mechanisms. Activities will comprise a) in-depth study of existing managing systems, b) the involvement of all water user groups in the planning and organisation of priority water management projects, c) an improvement of farm and household water management, and d) the linkages of communities to efficiently manage their water resources in collaboration with neighbouring villages and local administrative institutions.” (from project document)
It is foreseen that three field studies in all five selected canal irrigation schemes are carried out in the first year of the project. In the second year two more studies will be conducted in order to confirm the previous findings and to clarify open questions of the first year research. By this two hydrological cycles can be observed.
The field research will analyse the functioning of five local irrigation systems (2000-10,000 ha) and practical options for improving their management. It is organized around the following three components.
1) The physical system that captures, conveys and distributes water;
2) The households involved in irrigation and their livelihood strategies:
3) The institutions and organizations for the governance and management of the systems.
All the research results of the master students and postdoc will be shared in workshops to the respective authorities and stakeholders.
Requirements:
- Candidates should be enrolled in a Masters programme providing a relevant background for research on ‘social water management’.
- Experience with field work in rural areas in developing countries, preferably with the interdisciplinary study of water management, with a focus on issues like water rights, organisation of water distribution, sociotechnical analysis of infrastructure, local governance arrangements, and/or livelihoods aspects of irrigated agriculture
- Disciplinary background of students is open – relevant course work and fieldwork experience is decisive; we aim for gender balance and diversity in background to cover the different components adequately
- Good writing skills in English
- Good team worker
- Research experience in the Afghanistan region or irrigation in mountainous regions is preferred but not expected
- Speaking one or more of the local languages is a recommendation but not expected
Financial support:
ZEF will cover a) cost of return journey to research area, b) local transport for research, c) local accommodation costs, and d) necessary equipment e) translator, if necessary
More information:
More information on ZEF can be found at www.zef.de. Background information on the project can be requested from Sonja Wagener (s.wagener@uni-bonn.de).
ZEF research component coordinators:
Dr Peter P. Mollinga and Dr Conrad Schetter
ZEF Dept. of Political and Cultural Change
Walter Flex Str. 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
pmollinga@uni-bonn.de, c.schetter@uni-bonn.de
Phone: 00-49-228-734918 and 00-49-228-731970