Potential for Participation of Rural Communities and Implications for Process Design

Countries in the Middle East have been experiencing severe water shortages for several decades. In Jordan this crisis has been aggravated by population increase, climate change and the influx of Syrian refugees. In the process of managing the increasing water demand and its unstable supply some population groups become disadvantaged. It is increasingly recognised that a sustainable solution to the problem should extend beyond its technical dimension and ensure the involvement of various stakeholder groups. But how can an inclusive participatory process be designed that is likely to arrive at sustainable water management system? This is the question addressed by this book. The potential of participation in water management is examined for three exemplary refugee-hosting Jordanian rural communities. The book goes beyond the discussion of advantages of the approach and determines the conditions under which a participatory process will need to be designed. These are rooted, among other things, in the strong informal institutions regulating relationships within Jordanian society. Making explicit the complex web of water-related interests, social rules and power relations among water users and managers as well as actors’ existing problem-solving capacities is the basis for subsequently elaborating design principles for a participatory process that may lead to a more inclusive and sustainable water management system in the region. Results highlight the need to embed interventions in natural resource management - with tech-nical and institutional components - within the overall social system that forms Jordanian society. This study therefore contributes to the small but growing body of literature on social water stud-ies in the MENA region