experimental games for strengthening c ollective action ?
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Experimental games for strengthening c ollective action ?. Learning from field e xperiments in India and Colombia. Key c hallenge : Collective action for water m anagement. Need collective action to coordinate water uses, but it often doesn’t emerge - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Experimental games for strengthening collective action?
Learning from field experiments in India and Colombia
Key challenge: Collective action for water management
Need collective action to coordinate water uses, but it often doesn’t emerge
Groundwater especially challenging because of low visibility, understanding of connectedness
When collective action doesn’t emerge spontaneously, it is often difficult to organize
Experimental games used to measure propensity to collective action
Can games be used to strengthen collective action? Games for surface irrigation in Colombia,
groundwater in Andhra Pradesh, India
Methods (groundwater games)
Games Groups of 5 men or women Choose crop A or B with different
water use & returns See effect on water table Multiple years, with and without
communication Individual or community payments
randomized
Community debriefing How this relates to own
experiences and challenges farming
Lessons and insights the participants gained from the experience
Possible solutions
FindingsAvailable Water +++
Flat-Fee
Communication
Round ---
Years in Program ---
Female
Age
Caste
Education ---
Years in Village --
Household Size
Collective Action --
Area Owned --
Area, Tank +
Area, GW +++
15
20
25
30
35
40
Wat
er r
ema
inin
g en
d of
ro
und
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Round
no communication communication
Water remaining per round and treatment
Follow-up
Why didn’t women conserve water?• Follow-up study showed they don’t recognize links
between irrigation and domestic water availability• Domestic water built into revision of the game• Assessing mental models and understanding of GW
Importance of information• Tables tracking water use and levels helpful in game• Recognition of value of information on GW being
promoted in new Water Commons project
Outputs
Propiedad del jugador
A
Propiedad del jugador
B
Propiedad del jugador
C
Propiedad del jugador
D
Propiedad del jugador
E
Cana de irrigación
Propiedad del jugador
A
Propiedad del jugador
B
Propiedad del jugador
C
Propiedad del jugador
D
Propiedad del jugador
E
Cana de irrigación
• Games• Videos• Training NGO Staff• Presentations• Papers
Partners
Universidad de Los Andes: Juan Camilo Cardenas noted legacy effect of games, led to this project, led games in Colombia
Arizona State University: (Resilience Alliance) designed games, help to analyze, designing new games for FES
Foundation for Ecological Security: conducting games in India, expanding their use
Jana Jagriti: implementing games in their areas, interest in using them in own work
Outcomes
Changes in behavior (e.g. adopting drip) FES adopts games as community facilitation
tool in NABARD Hydrology project in Andhra, new HUF project on Water Commons in Andhra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (700 communities in 5 states)
FES working with ASU, IFPRI to develop new games for other commons• Potential to reach 7,000 villages with games for
commons (ecological services)
Lessons, Next Steps
Long-time partnerships needed for short-term results
Willingness of researchers and NGO to compromise led to important research findings
Adapting the games for NGO use:• Multi-player• For other types of commons• As a training tool
Measuring impact on water use is challenging Games as only one tool, not a panacea
Thank you