Community participation: so what? Evidence from a comparative study of two rural water supply and sanitation projects in India.

Abstract

This comparative study on the two rural drinking water supply and sanitation projects in the state of Kerala, India, was conducted to determine the impact of community participation on the project outcomes. Both were piped water schemes delivered by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA); one had adopted community participation by the beneficiary community, the other contained no community participation component. Project 1 was served by the Dutch/Danish project and Project 2 was served by KWA alone. A total of 160 respondents were involved in the study, 80 individuals belonged to each project. Technological outcomes, particularly in terms of water quality, were found to be better in project 1 than in project 2. 40% of the people in Project 1 villages and 25% in Project 2 villages switched over completely to the "safe" water supply provided by the project. It was also found that the health habits of the beneficiaries in project 1 were far better compared to project 2, specifically in covering drinking water containers and use of latrines. In addition, there was more continued community involvement in project 1 than in project 2. Satisfaction-wise, the majority (75%) of respondents in project 1 areas claimed satisfaction with the project as compared to 30% of project 2 respondents.