Bolivia Resilient Water Management for Community and Household Irrigation Project

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The Project will support the implementation of the first phase of the Government of Bolivia's Climate Smart and Resilient Program (Programa Lucho por una Bolivia Climaticamente Inteligente y Resiliente, Fase 1), which is a comprehensive rural development program, covering actions from water conservation, irrigation and risk management investments to information, knowledge management and water governance. It will have a strong focus on adaptation strategies for tackling the impacts of climate change on water security as well as developing resilience to climate change exacerbated flood and drought risks for Bolivia’s poorest communities. The Project will adopt an integrated approach, from basin to micro-basin planning, and will include investments for water management at the micro-basin level, investments for hydrological risk management, as well as investments to secure adequate water for irrigation of rain-fed crops, increasing farmers’ ability to improve food security and reducing their vulnerability to the increasing, climate change-induced rainfall variability. The Project design will consider some basic principles:• A comprehensive analysis of needs at the basin level. Activities or subprojects to secure the availability and sustainable use of water resources for target areas will be identified through a comprehensive analysis of the needs of 15 targeted basins with areas up to 20,000 km2 and the development of basin-level strategic integrated water plans (EPHIC) - formerly known as Basin Master Plans. • Micro-basins as the basic geographic unit. Project interventions will target micro-basins spanning less than around 200 km2 (operational hydrographic units), whose management units are OGCs. These micro-basins form part of larger basins managed by UGCs. Most of the micro-basins are located within the territory of one or a few autonomous municipal governments, thus facilitating coordination with the OGCs. In turn, larger basins that are managed by UGCs oftentimes extend beyond the boundaries of a single department and require the involvement of and closer coordination with the autonomous departmental governments and the MMAyA/VRHR. For activities under the VRHR’s responsibilities and that are eligible for Project funding, pre-feasibility studies (Technical Reports on Preconditions, ITCPs) and detailed technical designs (Pre-investment Technical Design Studies, EDTPs) will be prepared. In the case of activities that are not under the VRHR’s responsibilities or are not eligible for financing under the Project, subproject profiles will be prepared to help stakeholders - municipal governments and community organizations such as OGCs - look for other funding sources.• A bottom-up approach. The activities or subprojects will be identified and prioritized by the communities with the active participation of the municipal governments and the OGCs. The Project’s target will be basins located in the 9 departments of Bolivia. The geographic area comprises 256 municipal governments. Eligibility criteria for the selection of these basins include: (i) high aridity index, (ii) high levels of poverty, (iii) high population density, and (iv) potential areas of intervention under the different components of the Project. The Project will sequence the activities to focus initially on basins that present high levels of need and high levels of readiness for implementation, tackling ‘low-hanging fruits’ quickly to demonstrate early successes in the first phase of the Bolivia Climate Smart and Resilient Program and inform the design of the following phases. The Project will comprise of the following four components:Component 1. Water resources planning and pre-investment studies (US$9.930 million). This component will fund studies with two objectives: (i) development of water management plans at the basin level that follow both IWRM and integrated water basin management (MIC) approaches. This task will involve the identification and analysis of the main challenges the basins face from a territorial and sectoral perspective, and the development of a strategic vision based on the sustainable use of water resources; and (ii) development of pre-investment studies and detailed engineering designs for the subprojects, related to water conservation, irrigation, and risk management infrastructure, identified in each basin water management plan. Component 2. Climate resilient infrastructure investments (US$139.619 million). This component will fund works and the supervision of investments related to water conservation, soil and land management, irrigation, and risk management to adapt to the impacts of and to build resilience against climate change exacerbated floods and droughts. The component will be divided into three sub-components.• Subcomponent 2.1. Investments in integrated water basins management (MIC). Investments will include activities to protect water sources, water planting and harvesting, soil improvement, protection of water recharge areas and recovery of forest areas. These investments aim to reduce the vulnerability of watersheds facing degradation and desertification, and to increase water availability and local storage capacity. The investments will also enhance soil and crop carbon stock. • Subcomponent 2.2: Community and household irrigation systems. The investments in household and community irrigation systems, which are classified as minor irrigation systems by the VRHR, will include infrastructure for water capture (harvesting of surface runoff, groundwater extraction, use of spring water and other alternative water sources), the installation of water storage solutions, the conveyance of water to the field, and the equipment necessary for water distribution on the plots. • Subcomponent 2.3: Risk management infrastructure. This subcomponent will support infrastructure to protect land and communities against extreme hydrological events, including flooding, and to conserve, restore and manage soils degraded by erosion. Component 3: Capacity building for water governance and enhanced productivity (US$16.622 million). This component will fund technical assistance (TA) and capacity building activities to enhance water governance at the national, macro, regional and basins level. The component will include TA and training for UGCs, OGCs, municipal governments, and farmers.Component 4. Project management (US$5.317 million). This component will fund activities to support Project administration and management, including procurement, financial, environmental, social, and technical management as well as audits and monitoring and evaluation (M&E).