What Is Benchmarking ?

1. Performance Improvement through Benchmarking of Water Resources Projects in Maharashtra, India-A Case StudyDr. Sanjay BelsareExecutive Engineer and Associate ProfessorEr.GaneshVyawahare, Executive Engineer, MWRDC Aurangabad

2. What Is Benchmarking? Benchmarking can be defined as a systematic process for securing continual improvement through comparison with relevant and achievable internal or external norms and standards.

3. Advantages of Benchmarking • 1. Management • Evaluation of performance • Management of resources (water, manpower, finances) • Policy decisions • 2. Service provision • Efficiency, transparency and accountability • Commitment to excellence • 3. Users • Develop confidence about service • Enhance Agricultural productivity • Effective PIM

4. Benchmarking Involves • Internal assessment of project. • Comparison with the best performing project. • Determining performance gap between • current practice and best practice. • Selecting best practices and implementing • them.

5. Stages of Benchmarking Process 1 Identification And Planning 6 Monitoring and Evaluation 2 Data Collection Benchmarking Process 5 Action 3 Analysis 4 Integration

6. Characteristics • Irrigation and drainage service providers operate in a natural monopoly environment. • Irrigation and drainage entails complex and interacting physical, social, economic, political, • technical and environmental processes. • Performance of irrigation and drainage schemes is site specific.

7. Drivers for Benchmarking • Increasing water scarcity & competition between various sectors of water use. • Need to improve the productivity of water in the agriculture sector (Rs/m3) • Need to achieve financial sustainability of irrigation schemes & phase out State subsidy. • Need to promote participatory management of schemes by the users. • Need to establish a basis of accountability of the service providers.

8. State Water Policy (2003) The Maharashtra State Water Policy advocates use of benchmarking as a management tool for improving the efficiency, transparency and accountability of the personnel responsible for providing services & seeking participation of users.

9. Objectives • Evaluation and improvement in performance of • Service Providers (Irrigation Circles) • Irrigation projects • Water Users’ Associations

10. Number of Projects Covered

11. Who is Managing • Government of Maharashtra • Water Resources Department at various levels of organisation • GOM has institutionalised the benchmarking process • A State level core group is formed.

12. Stakeholder’s Participation • Some data required for various performance indicators is collected from the stakeholders. • Benchmarking of WUAs is also being carried out.

13. Indicators • The indicators are for • System Performance • Financial Indicators • Agricultural Productivity • Environmental Aspects • Social Aspects

14. Indicators Selected

15. Contd..

16. Contd..

17. Presentation of Results

18. Annual Irrigation Water Supply Per Unit Irrigated Area

19. Potential Created and Utilised

20. Output Per Unit Irrigated Area

21. Cost Recovery Ratio

22. Equity Performance

23. Assessment Recovery Ratio

25. Performance Comparison • For individual indicators • Comparison with • Self performance • Other projects in same sub-basin • Average performance of plan group • State Target 25

26. Targets 26

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29. Coupling of benchmarking with water auditing • Water Audit • Water accounting & audit for all projects is now compulsory. • Profarmas are prescribed for maintaining water account • Annual Water Account to be submitted to MWRDC • Three Water Auditing Cells in MWRDC • Manual for water auditing • Annual inspection of divisions for verification

30. Calendar of Activities

31. How Are the Results Shared? • Annual benchmarking report and water audit reports are published • Report is available on websites (www.mahawrd.org & www.mwrdc.org) • Circle wise results are discussed in meetings among water providers. • State, Regional seminars / workshops are conducted. • Reports are circulated to NGOs working in the field of public awareness about water use. 31

32. Lessons Learned So Far • Useful management tool • Improvement of Water Use Efficiency • Increase in revenue. • Improvement in overall performance • Step towards self sustainability.

33. Water Use Efficiency

34. O & M Cost and Recovery

35. Way Forward • Extending it further to Division and section level • Comparison with National and International schemes • Increasing participation of users in benchmarking process • Real time collection of data through ICIS

36. THANKs web site:- www.mahawrd.org & www.mwrdc.org