Large dams are built primarily with the vision of delivering national development goals – for example by providing electricity or irrigation. But local communities whose lives are disrupted by the dam should also see their development supported on the ground in the long term.
Money from the development fund can be invested in schools, health clinics, markets, reservoirs for fishing, better roads, and water supplies, and watershed conservation activities.
A new animation, produced by the Global Water Initiative (GWI) West Africa, aims at informing decision makers and other stakeholders about the potential of local development funds as a simple way of making sure resettled communities directly receive their share in the dam’s benefit.
Local development funds run throughout the lifetime of a dam and can support livelihood opportunities when the compensation money runs out. These funds work particularly well because they allow local people to decide how the money is spent.
The three-minute video, entitled sharing the revenue from large dams to support local development, is part of the GWI action-research and advocacy project implemented by IIED and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Watch below:
The Global Water Initiative in West Africa is an action-research and advocacy project. It works with family farmers and governments to shape policies and practices that support livelihoods and food security in the context of large multi-purpose dams. The project is funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and implemented by IIED and IUCN.