Presented by IWMI's Thai Thi Minh in line with the World Water Day 2022 commemoration held in Ghana

1. Systemic, adaptive approach
for scaling groundwater
irrigation in West Africa
Thai Thi Minh
International Water Management Institute

2. Groundwater irrigation in West Africa:
Facts and figures (1)
Source: Villholth 2013; MacDonald
et al. 2012 and 2021; Gowing et al.
2020; Minh et al 2022
• Abundant
groundwater
resource but low
productive use for
irrigation
• An estimate of 20%
of groundwater
irrigation area
• Suitable source for
farmer-led irrigation
• Limited access to
water lifting
technologies and
services and energy
• High initial
investment cost
and uncertainty
• An increasing
investment area for
resourceful farmers

3. Groundwater irrigation in West Africa:
Facts and figures (2)
• High market
competition in the
borehole drilling
business
• Limited and
uncertain
partnership among
businesses
• Dominance of
middlemen and
technicians in the
irrigation equipment
and services supply
chain
• Groundwater irrigation
turn in the development
agenda
• Unlock private sector
investment and business
• Facilitating public sector
engagement and
inclusive policy
• Financing the
groundwater irrigation
development
• Addressing trade-off
and sustainability
issues

4. Multi pathways to systemic, adaptive scaling
groundwater irrigation
Individual and
collective investment
Multi-stakeholder
dialogue
Adaptive capacity
Multi-actor partnership
Private sector investment

5. Enable individual and collective investment:
Bundling site-specific water solutions and services
Digital information
services and marketing
Solar-
powered
irrigation
pumps
Financing
service
Pay-own
Group-based
investment
Output market
linkages
Group
governance
Collective
marketing
Cash flow management
Institutional risk-
management investment
Irrigation and
agronomic practices
Technical
service
Agricultural
inputs
Input market
service
Bundling innovations

6. Capitalize the private sector investment:
unpacking resource availability and market potential
Solar suitability mapping Demand-supply linkage
Where the private
sector should invest?
How can the private sector tailor business models to different client segments?
How can the private
sector increase the sale
in a sustainable and
inclusive manner?
Client assessment tool
Client segmentation

7. Facilitate multi-actor scaling partnership
along the value chain
Input
suppliers
Collectors/
traders
Processors Consumers
Distributors
Irrigation
suppliers
Farmers
Government
agencies
Non-government
organizations
Research
organizations
Research
organizations
Private sector
entities
Government
agencies Research
organizations
Private sector
entities
Government
agencies
NGOs
Value
chain
analysis
Engaging
and
matching

8. Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue:
Engagement, learning and collaboration
Multi-stakeholder platform landscape analysis
Private sector
entity
Farmers and
farmer
organization
Donors and
development
partner
Government
organization
University and
research
organization
Knowledge brokering
Engaging private sector
Leverage investments
Engage multiple sectors
Integrate scaling into existing platforms
Objectives:
• Facilitate private
sector engagement
on scaling
• Support policy and
planning processes
• Drive inclusive
innovations
• Foster learning
and institutional
capacity
• Catalyze on
sustainable finance
for scaling
Public organization
lead platform
Development organization
lead platforms
Public-development
co-lead platforms
Private sector lead
platforms
Non-government
organization
Existing multi-
stakeholder platforms

9. Catalyze system adaptive capacity
Adaptive capacity to
the private sector
labor market
Hackathon for innovation
development
Incubation for innovation
commercialization
Internship
with
private
sector
partners
Demand-
driven
research
System analysis
Enabling environment analysis The best-fit capacity development

10. Bundling is one of pathways
for the system transformation
Individual and
collective investment
Multi-stakeholder
dialogue
Adaptive capacity
Multi-actor partnership
Private sector investment

11. Question B. Which of these pathways to adaptive scaling of groundwater irrigation will be
most relevant in your context?
1. Individual investment
2. Collective investment
3. Private sector investment
4. Multi-actor partnership
5. Multi-stakeholder dialogue
Question C. How important are the following tools for supporting groundwater irrigation
in the country where you work? Rank in the order of importance (1 = least important – 5
= most important):
1. Solar suitability mapping
2. Client assessment
3. Client segmentation
4. Demand -supply linkage
5. Multi-actor analysis
6. Enabling environment analysis
7. The best-fit capacity building

12. Thank you very much!
Systemic adaptive scaling toolkit®
helps to co-design and implement
multi-site specific pathways for
sustainable and inclusive scaling of
groundwater irrigation.
There is no one solution that fits all
and catalyzing groundwater irrigation
takes multi pathways to address
systemic barriers and opportunities.
®Thai Minh et al. in preparation