Project-based participation and the politics of adaptive water governance in coastal polders of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT In Coastal Bangladesh, community-based water management groups (WMGs) and water management associations (WMAs) have been central to participatory water governance, yet their postproject sustainability remains uncertain. This article examines how WMGs and WMAs shape participatory water governance and local adaptive capacity in two coastal polders after the withdrawal of project-based support. Using a qualitative-dominant case study supported by questionnaire survey, FGDs, stakeholder workshops, and a national-level dialogue, it analyses post-project institutional functionality, participatory linkages, and adaptive capacity. The findings shows formal organizational routines plummeted after project withdrawal. However, WMGs and WMAs retained local relevance through informal collective efforts in response to water-related crises, such as flooding, severe waterlogging, canal siltation, and infrastructure-related problems. The article argues that these organisations are neither simply successful participatory institutions nor failed project-induced organizations. Rather, they are institutionally fragile but socially embedded actors whose contribution to adaptive water governance depends on stronger institutional support, clear mandates, technical assistance, accountable leadership, and coordination among state and local actors. This article contributes to ongoing debates on participatory water governance, by showing that formal organisational decline does not necessarily imply the disappearance of local collective capacity, but that capacity requires stronger institutional anchoring to support adaptive water governance.