This document discusses tools for improving community-based governance of groundwater resources in Africa. It describes behavioral games used to simulate groundwater management and promote social learning. Studies found these games increased participants' understanding of groundwater as a shared resource and likelihood of establishing management rules. However, refreshers are needed to ensure lessons sustain long-term and catalyze collective action. Packaging games with other decision support tools may improve effectiveness when scaling interventions.

1. The groundwater governance toolbox:
Elements to increase sustainability of
groundwater use in Africa
Hagar ElDidi
IFPRI

2. The context
 Groundwater challenges
o High subtractability; low excludability
o Low visibility; Lack of understanding of resource dynamics
 In many parts of Africa
o Small-scale groundwater irrigation expanding; promoted
o Unregulated use of groundwater
o Opportunity to improve understanding of groundwater resources and
importance of collective governance to avoid resource depletion before
reaching critical phases
 Equipped with the right information and tools, community-based
governance of groundwater can be effective for sustainable and
equitable resource use
Groundwater irrigated tomato, Ethiopia.
Photo credit: Wei Zhang

3. Types of institutional tools for groundwater
governance
 From “teaching” to “social learning”: Community level collective action through
experiential learning
Adapted from Bruns and Meinzen-Dick, 2022
Information-based Data (crop water requirements, weather, ET), crop water
budgeting, extension/training, decision support systems
Regulation Well spacing/licensing, irrigation schedules/quotas, metering,
protected areas
Procedural (social
learning)
Experimental games, multistakeholder dialogue, participatory
hydrological modeling, crop water budgeting
Financial Water tariffs/prices, fees, fines, energy pricing/ solar irrigation,
subsidies for farm inputs & outputs, payment for environmental
services (PES)
Organizational Forums, federations, WUAs, social networks, multistakeholder
forums

4. Tools for experiential and social learning
(with Foundation for Ecological Security)
 Behavioral games
o Framed field experiments, typically involving social dilemma
o Useful for identifying behavioral patterns & shaping “mental models”
on resource governance
o Simulate several seasons in short time & effects of different
institutional arrangements (rules)
 Community debriefing discussions
 Stakeholder consultation workshops
 Crop Water Budgeting - as a participatory exercise/ app (FES)
 CLART - as a participatory exercise/ app (FES)
 Suitability tool
CWB dashboard: FES

5. Groundwater game
(based on Meinzen-Dick et al. 2018 – India, Ethiopia, Ghana)
 Game
o Players choose between crops with different water use &
returns
o Different game treatments: No communication,
communication, and rules
o Adapted to various contexts (ex. GW salinity in parts of Ghana)
 Community debriefing
o How this relates to own farming experiences/ challenges
o Lessons/ insights gained from the experience
 Research focus
o Effects on community collective action for groundwater
governance
o Immediate and medium-term learning effect of the game on
participants’ mental models
Community playing game, India. Photo credit: FES

6. Selected results
 Communities who played the game were more likely to devise collective
rules for managing groundwater (India)
 Learning effect - Visible shifts in immediate mental models before and after
the game (Ethiopia/ Ghana):
o Groundwater is a shared and depletable resource
o Communication, collective action, and rules are important for governance
o New learning sustains 6 months+ later
o Community discussions catalyzed but not much community level action (rules) yet
0
20
40
60
80
100
Have less Have more Not affected
Percent
Groundwater availability expectations
if other farmers around start pumping
more groundwater for irrigation
Pre Post
0
20
40
60
80
100
Agree Disagree Strongly
agree
Strongly
disagree
NA
Percent
Groundwater use now will affect its
sustained availability in the future for
all the community
Pre Post
0
20
40
60
80
100
Agree Disagree Strongly
agree
Strongly
disagree
Percent
Community members should act
collectively to manage groundwater
Pre Post

7. Lessons learned from game interventions
 Post-game community debriefing
discussion is crucial for community-wide
learning and spillover effects
 Refreshers/ long-term engagement
needed to ensure sustained retention of
lessons and fueling collective action
 Implementation of rules/ collective action
is a longer-term learning process
Community debriefing meeting, Keta, Ghana. Photo credit:
Emmanuel Obuobie and Margaret Akuriba
Women playing game, Ethiopia. Photo
credit: Fekadu Gelaw

8. Lessons for implementation and scaling
 Packaging interventions increases likelihood of effectiveness
o Games with information-based institutional tools
o CWB/ CLART/ Suitability tool
o Team-up with extension officers to support community members in determining
suitable water-saving crops
o Monitor GW changes to see longer-term effects on resource sustainability
 Adapt to context to increase relevance
 Scaling vs piloting: strategies at scale different from direct engagement
o Influencing government programs and other NGOs to take tools to scale
o Use of technology/ apps to ease facilitation
o Working through other organizations
o Training (of trainers)
o Need for economic incentives for water saving crops work with market actors

9. Resources
 Meinzen-Dick, R., M. Janssen, S. Kandikuppa, R. Chaturvedi, K. Rao and S. Theis. 2018. Playing Games to Save
Water: Collective Action Games for Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh, India. World Development
107(July):40-53. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X18300445
 Falk, T., Kumar, S., Srigiri, S., 2019. Experimental games for developing institutional capacity to manage common
water infrastructure in India, Agricultural Water Management. 221: 260–269
 Bruns, B. and R. Meinzen-Dick. 2022. Combining and crafting institutional tools for groundwater governance.
IFPRI Discussion Paper 2158. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136518
 Commoning the Commons: A Sourcebook to Strengthen Management and Governance of Water as Commons
https://fes.org.in/resources/sourcebooks,manuals,atlases-&-
ecoprofiles/manuals/strengthening_governance_and_management_of_water_as_commons.pdf
 Scaling up Experiential Learning project website: https://www.ifpri.org/project/scaling-experiential-learning-tools-
sustainable-water-governance-india
 Game: HTTP://GAMESFORSUSTAINABILITY.ORG/PRACTITIONERS/
o http://gamesforsustainability.org/2015/12/05/groundwater-game-for-practitioners/
 CWB tool (FES website): https://cwb.fes.org.in/
 CLART tool (FES website): https://det.fes.org.in