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Advanced Studies in Water at the University of Utah. He also serves as the Associate Director for the Global Change and Sustainability Center at the University of Utah where he facilitates interdisciplinary sustainability research initiatives. His research group has contributed new approaches for designing urban water infrastructure, innovative urban databases and water modeling techniques, sustainable solutions for distributed water-energy-food systems in cities, and practical adaptation strategies for water managers facing aging infrastructure, climate change, and other challenges. This research has been funded by NSF, EPA, NASA, DOD, DOE, USAID, National Labs, State Departments of Transportation, and Industry in the U.S. and several countries. More than 75 authored or co-authored peer-reviewed publications, 100 conference papers and project reports, and several software packages and databases have been produced from this research. Dr. Burian's enthusiasm for student learning has led to numerous teaching awards and the creation of new pedagogical approaches directed toward multi-institution collaborative learning. He has also sought to advance teaching effectiveness of engineering educators by serving as mentor at the American Society of Civil Engineers ExCEEd Teaching Workshop and as the developer of a variety of teaching and curriculum development workshops, including the recent Wasatch Experience at the University of Utah.Dr. Mercedes Ward, University of Utah Prof. Tariq J. Banuri, University of Utah Prof. Sajjad Ahmad, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Dr. Ahmad is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). His teaching and research interests are in the area of sustainable planning and management of water resources, water-energy nexus, and stormwater management . He is particularly interested in using systems approach to address water sustainability issues. Dr. Rasool Bux Mahar, Mehran University, PakistanHe is a working as Professor in U.S. Governance, Gender Equity, and Sustainability. This paper describes the project, the activities for each component, and the multi-level assessment of the program, activities, and impact. The paper also highlights the overarching impact of the program and its alignment with achieving the Sustainable Development Goal for Water. Following the description of the program components and assessment, the paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and lessons learned.

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In 1980, the World Bank began to promote Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) reforms to overcome disparities in the distribution of public irrigation water for agricultural uses. Yet, in Pakistan as in other countries, PIM was unable to achieve its objectives of equitable resource distribution and financial sustainability. This paper examines how the neoliberal understanding of citizens’ participation/participatory development as demonstrated in PIM fails because its underlying theory of change overlooks power asymmetry issues, institutional politics, and farmers’ engagement processes. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data collected through structured and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation in Pakistan’s agrarian heartlands of Punjab and Sindh, we argue that traditional irrigation bureaucracy, donor agency technocrats, and depoliticized participatory development approach intentionally or unintentionally ignore the muted voices of small and landless peasants in the reform process. Under such circumstances, reform cannot generate hydro-solidarity, trust, and collective action from below. Moreover, the irrigation bureaucracy only mimics the institutions of participation under an externally assisted push because the PIM model was never adequately tested and implemented. We argue that without active farmers’ agency—small and landless peasants, these paper organizations cannot create multi-level accountability in irrigation management. We elucidate an important but under-theorized factor contributing to these failures: depoliticized irrigation management transfer processes that fail to redistribute social power. Donor articulations of the PIM “theory of change” do not make explicit that a shift in social power – not just management authority and responsibility – is necessary.