Ecuador

Sowing Water for Life

City/State/Region: Paltas
Begin – End: 2003 – 2007
Name of organization in charge: Municipalidad de Paltas
Type of organization in charge: government
Level: local

Impact

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Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: yes
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: yes
Output: yes
Policy Outcome: yes

Sowing Water for Life is an initiative promoted between 2003 and 2007 by the Municipality of Paltas with the purpose of rebuilding the productive bases of the canton through a series of policies related to water management and the development of gardens. To this end, a Cantonal Development Plan was developed in a participatory manner with the active participation of 140 neighborhoods and associations, the parish boards of the seven rural parishes and two foundations of the canton. Participatory self-diagnosis and planning workshops were then carried out in each micro-basin. The construction of 220 lagoons, 75 natural pools, 80 levees and the recovery of 120 demonstration gardens with irrigation techniques were then started. Finally, the systematization and dissemination of the project was carried out at various regional, national and global levels. The project provided water for human consumption and orchard irrigation to 437 families (1748 rural people), indirectly benefiting approximately 13 000 people. Among the achievements of the project are the increase of water, the stabilization of aquifers in micro-watersheds and the recovery of rural farms.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: only backed by a governmental program or policy
Frequency: single
Mode of selection of participants: restricted
Type of participants: citizens
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields a binding decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation