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Experimental games for strengthening c ollective action ?

Experimental games for strengthening c ollective action ?. Learning from field e xperiments in India and Colombia. Key c hallenge : Collective action for water m anagement. Need collective action to coordinate water uses, but it often doesn’t emerge

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Experimental games for strengthening c ollective action ?

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  1. Experimental games for strengthening collective action? Learning from field experiments in India and Colombia

  2. Key challenge: Collective action for water management • Need collective action to coordinate water uses, but it often doesn’t emerge • Groundwater especially challenging because of low visibility, understanding of connectedness • When collective action doesn’t emerge spontaneously, it is often difficult to organize • Experimental games used to measure propensity to collective action • Can games be used to strengthen collective action? • Games for surface irrigation in Colombia, groundwater in Andhra Pradesh, India

  3. Methods (groundwater games) Games • Groups of 5 men or women • Choose crop A or B with different water use & returns • See effect on water table • Multiple years, with and without communication • Individual or community payments randomized Community debriefing • How this relates to own experiences and challenges farming • Lessons and insights the participants gained from the experience • Possible solutions

  4. Findings

  5. Follow-up • Why didn’t women conserve water? • Follow-up study showed they don’t recognize links between irrigation and domestic water availability • Domestic water built into revision of the game • Assessing mental models and understanding of GW • Importance of information • Tables tracking water use and levels helpful in game • Recognition of value of information on GW being promoted in new Water Commons project

  6. Outputs • Games • Videos • Training NGO Staff • Presentations • Papers

  7. Partners • Universidad de Los Andes: Juan Camilo Cardenas noted legacy effect of games, led to this project, led games in Colombia • Arizona State University: (Resilience Alliance) designed games, help to analyze, designing new games for FES • Foundation for Ecological Security: conducting games in India, expanding their use • Jana Jagriti: implementing games in their areas, interest in using them in own work

  8. Outcomes • Changes in behavior (e.g. adopting drip) • FES adopts games as community facilitation tool in NABARD Hydrology project in Andhra, new HUF project on Water Commons in Andhra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (700 communities in 5 states) • FES working with ASU, IFPRI to develop new games for other commons • Potential to reach 7,000 villages with games for commons (ecological services)

  9. Lessons, Next Steps • Long-time partnerships needed for short-term results • Willingness of researchers and NGO to compromise led to important research findings • Adapting the games for NGO use: • Multi-player • For other types of commons • As a training tool • Measuring impact on water use is challenging • Games as only one tool, not a panacea

  10. Thank you

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