Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of Factors Limiting the Success of the Project of Water Pumping Station in Ghomsheh Faraman Village, Kermanshah County

Population growth, drought, climate change, and mismanagement policies have strongly affected the existing water resources. One of the most effective ways to achieve the goals of agricultural water management is setting up and optimizing irrigation and drainage networks for agricultural water. Water experts consider construction and establishment of water pumping stations in rural areas as one of the important principles of optimal agricultural water management. However, despite the costs incurred, the evidence shows that most of these networks have faced many problems and beneficiaries’ participations in the maintenance of installations have been minimal. Moreover, in the design and implementation of these projects, social studies of the involved regions and the main stakeholders’ opinions about these projects seem to have been ignored. As a result, the efficiency and productivity of such stations, as well as investment in the development of water resources, have decreased. In this regard, several pumping stations have been built for developing gardens in Kermanshah Province, but almost all of them are inactive for reasons such as the lack of technical and accurate engineering. The only water pumping station which is ready to operate is in Ghomsheh Village, but many problems occurring from the time of its approval to implementation have led to the villagers’ distrust and pessimism towards the implementation of the project. After taking some steps, the villagers have refused to participate in the project and have not accepted it. However, based on the available evidence, construction of a water pumping station can have positive benefits for stakeholders. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to perform a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of the factors limiting the success of the project of water pumping station in the village of Ghomsheh Faraman and provide solutions to overcome the mentioned problems.

This study was a qualitative research and a case study in terms of obtaining facts and data processing. The study population included the beneficiaries covering the water pumping station of Ghomsheh Village, 15 people in Darood Faraman and 11 officials, who were involved in the implementation of this project. The sampling method was purposeful based on semi-structured interviews and the focus groups were used to collect the data. Fifteen and 11 individual interviews with the villagers and the officials involved in the water pumping station were done, respectively. The average time of the interviews was 40-50 min. The researcher also conducted 2 and 2 focus group interviews with the community of beneficiaries (6-8 people) and the project-related officials (6-7 people), respectively. To analyze the data, the RCA technique was utilized. Root analysis is the process of a structured investigation that aims to identify the real cause of a problem. It is a multi-stage process that includes: 1) problem identification; 2) information gathering; 3) information analysis; and 4) cause-and-effect analysis. To identify the main problem, the interviews were conducted with the project beneficiaries and officials. Then, each of the relevant interviews was transcribed and the key concepts and root causes were extracted after summarizing them. Upon identifying the problem, cause, and root cause during a re-interview with the project beneficiaries and officials, the revitalization strategies of the project implementation were extracted.

A necessary condition for the growth and development of any community, including the village of Ghomsheh Faraman, is creating jobs, which, despite its high importance, has poorly and negatively been done in the mentioned village, thus resulting in increased unemployment and the villagers’ decreased incomes. Construction of this station has not only led to the villagers’ unemployment, but also enhanced their migration and addiction, as well as divorce in some cases. Researchers’ findings in this regard have shown that the project incompatibility with the beneficiaries’ main profession has extended its duration, labors’ abandonment from the village, and lack of diversity of activities in the village as the root of the problems reducing rural incomes and augmenting unemployment. Another major problem for the project of water pumping station in Ghomsheh Faraman Village has been the villagers’ unwillingness to cooperate with the authorities, which was found to be the dominant and main problem contributing to the project inefficiency in this study. The people’s reluctance towards the project implementation, the beneficiaries’ indecision for accomplishing it, the profiteering views of some of them, their pessimism and distrust towards the officials, as well as the officials’ empty promises and ignorance towards the beneficiaries’ protests and demands were the roots of the problem. Nonetheless, this had not prevented the project construction and implementation, despite the users’ reluctance towards horticulture and even the existence of inadequate feasibility studies, which had temporarily resulted in the waste of resources, stagnation of the station, increased unemployment and migration, return to the primary cultivation method, and the beneficiaries’ pessimism and distrust towards the project. After 8 years from the construction of the project, still, no gardens have been constructed and the agricultural lands have been stagnated, while the beneficiaries have remained undecided whether to continue the path and construct the gardens or return to the primary cultivation method. They are still reluctant to cooperate with the authorities. Another issue was the uncertainty of land ownership. In the lands covered by the station, the issue of ownership was very important with some needs to be considered. Huge investments had been made to control, regulate, transfer, and distribute water by water pumping stations.The beneficiaries’ participation in the station-related planning was one of the joint strategies expressed by the two groups, which, if implemented, could have a very positive effect on the beneficiaries’ participation, which could then increase their desire for gardening, accepting the station costs, reducing the project time and cost, creating the villagers’ sense of ownership and responsibility so as to take care of the tools and facilities required for the project. Farmers' involvement in irrigation projects is essential since it can enhance their abilities to plan, reduce operating and maintenance costs, and increase their sense of responsibility. To solve the main problems, i.e., lack of diversity of activities in the village and the officials and farmers’ involvement in the project,  a joint strategy of the Agricultural Jihad Organization to assist the villagers in the construction of a cattle ranch, as well as growing mushrooms and bees is needed. If such businesses are launched, the villagers’ income would increase and the economic pressures could decrease. In addition, creating jobs in the village could reduce unemployment and poverty, improve life quality, and ultimately lower rural migration. A legal solution to the problem of land ownership was another joint strategy proposed by the officials and beneficiaries of the project to address the root of the problem resulting from lack of attention to the customary-property laws. Implementation of this strategy would give hope to the villagers to realize their rights with the help of the authorities, better accept legal votes by the relevant institutions in this area, and have less opposition in launching and reviving the project. The legal solution to the problem of land ownership would make them feel secure about their properties. Another joint strategy presented by the beneficiaries and officials involved in the project was to solve the root of the problem of management instability. Hiring a professional and consistent manager for the mentioned station would shorten the time of garden construction and implementation of the second phase, while solving the challenges and problems of the project more easily because of the manager's familiarity with the project implementation process.

To identify the root causes of inefficiency of the water pumping station in Ghomsheh Village and provide a strategy for solving them, the RCA technique was employed. Following the interviews with the beneficiaries and officials involved in the project, 7 problems of the station inefficiency were identified: lack of the villagers’ willingness to cooperate with the authorities, farmers’ decreased incomes and increased unemployment, lack of land ownership, repetitions of the process and past mistakes, loss of the beneficiaries’ economic livelihood, and imposition of part of the costs on them. Also, such executive strategies as involving the operators in the planning of the station, determining the amount of land covered by the station in the second phase, helping the villagers to establish agricultural projects, finding a legal solution to the problem of agricultural land ownership, beginning and ending the second phase at the announced deadline, using a professional and consistent manager until the end of the project, etc. were proposed.