MCC should engage in institutional reform and capacity development efforts earlier and more substantially. To improve long-term sustainability, MCC should also find opportunities to build on existing institutions when creating water user associations (WUAs). The Water Management and Irrigation Activity is another reminder of the challenges in developing capacity of institutions that are responsible for operating and maintaining MCC’s infrastructure investments. Delays in the Di Perimeter construction reduced the time for institutional development. Only one WUA on the Di perimeter had received the planned support and training by the end of the Compact. The Government’s post-compact entity took on many implementation responsibilities after the Compact end date until the Government decided it should be dissolved. To support long-term sustainability, MCC should look to partner with existing institutions where possible instead of building new ones. In addition, reform should not wait until the infrastructure is completed. MCC could have supported the entity responsible for maintaining the primary canals and overseeing water user associations before construction began. The institutional reform and capacity development efforts have lower cost and visibility than the infrastructure ones, although they seem to require as much or more staff time due to their complexity. MCC is addressing this lesson by requiring governments to take difficult policy actions as a condition to infrastructure investments. MCC is also engaging more substantively in the compact development process on institutional and regulatory issues. MCC is exploring ways to adapt its development and implementation processes to better engage with countries on institutional reform and development. This includes the use of more complexity-aware and adaptive implementation approaches.
Lesson Learned