Water Users Association Development Support Project

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The objective of the Water Users Association Development Support Project for Azerbaijan is to improve the effectiveness and financial viability of on-farm irrigation water distribution and management in the project area. There are three components to the project, the first component being institutional strengthening and capacity building. The component will finance the following activities: capacity building of Amelioration and Irrigation Open Joint Stock Company (AIOJSC); training and capacity building of Water User Association (WUA); and Institutional capacity building studies, and pilots. The second component is the on-farm irrigation and drainage (I&D) rehabilitation. This component will finance rehabilitation of 85,000 ha of on-farm systems managed by about 34 eligible WUAs located in 15 core project raions with a total irrigated area of 518,000 ha. The concept is to strengthen WUAs into mature and sustainable entities, able to manage, operate and maintain their systems. WUAs selected according to agreed upon criteria and procedures, will be eligible for rehabilitation. Finally, the third component is the project management, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E).