da Costa, Larissa Barbosa. 2010. When participation and empowerment are not enough: Water governance and social transformation in the Lagos Sao Juao river basin, Brazil. In Participation for what: Social change or social control? edited by G. Gomez, M., A. Corradi, A., P. Goulart and R. Namara. The Hague: ISS and Hivos.
Brazil’s Water Law (1997) and the creation of the subsequent National Water Policy enabled a river basin management framework including the formation of River Basin Committees (over 120 have been established). These committees provide a roundtable forum where decision sharing between the government and water users is enabled. da Costa’s work explores participation, empowerment and social transformation and the limited successes resulting from the new water participatory governance framework and the role of River Basin Committees. This research draws on interviews and analysis in Brazil’s Lagos Sao Joao river basin.
The new participatory framework of River Basin Committees is intended to: provide an opportunity to connect people and government, increase transparency and accountability, create an opportunity for people to exercise their citizen rights and provide a grass-roots influence to shape policy and generate change. On the other hand, the roundtable participatory framework does not facilitate participation by excluded groups and may be doing little more than reproducing an unequal power relationship that risks replacing one undemocratic governance system with another.
da Costa identifies three significant blockages or limitations to transforming the participatory nature of water governance in Brazil: a lack of strategic consideration (“uncritical”) of who participates; an over emphasis on environmental consideration at the expense of people, social justice, equity, and economic considerations (i.e. income, resource distribution); and a focus on action instead of learning – with an over emphasis on goal setting and problem solving with no strategic consideration for learning systematically.
da Costa explores the dilemma of participation, arguing that there is a trade-off between efficiency (means) and empowerment (end) where ‘transformative empowerment’ consists of a long-term, politically conscious, process that addresses social inequality by involving and empowering marginalized citizens. Through the convening of watershed groups, da Costa articulates three assumptions made by the government: (1) convening watershed groups to support water resource decision making will provide disadvantaged groups with an influential voice in policy development; (2) the process of participation will improve the quality of life of citizens through the enhancement of negotiating skills that result in improved accessed to resources; and (3) a process of participation and empowerment, marginalized groups can gain power, articulate their political challenges that lead to transformation. These three assumptions are challenged in this chapter with mixed results from interviewed actors (both those participating and some that aren’t in the process.)
da Costa highlights Veneklasen and Miller’s (2002) ideas on categories of expressed power, describing four distinct categories: power over (win-lose game), power with (capacity to achieve together), power to (personal potential to shape one’s on life), and power within (self acceptance, respect and esteem). This earlier research suggests that improving water management and governance through the inclusion of marginalized groups is better served if the emphasis is placed on a long-term engagement process that supports transformative learning and a means to encourage the capacity to achieve together (at a watershed scale) while improving the power of individual actors (Veneklasen and Miller’s described ‘power to-‘ and ‘power within’).
Moreover, da Costa’s concept of participation and empowerment are influenced by Jack Mezirow’s “transformative learning” paradigm that suggests that “we make meaning out of the world through our experiences.” da Costa argues that the process of transformative learning requires a refocusing of emphasis away from technical knowledge, and instead should be focused towards communicative knowledge and social skill development to empower the marginalized and address issues of social inequity. da Costa argues that the current framework developed to support participation and empowerment in water resource decisions is a positive step forwards but insufficient to generate the desired transformative end because it lacks the generation of critical reflection and doesn’t challenge the status quo.
