Supplying water to the urban poor: Government's roles and challenges of participatory water governance

Abstract

Supplying water to the urban poor has been one of the greatest challenges in the Global South. Many national and international organizations have recently taken initiatives to ensure sufficient water supply for the urban poor who are staying with enormous water scarcity. A remarkable solution is participatory water governance that suggests working in partnerships with all the relevant stakeholders. Using a case study method, this paper aims to examine a water supply programme based on participatory approach in a slum of Dhaka city. The main objective is to investigate the roles and challenges of government authorities in a new participatory governance arrangement to work with partner-organizations during implementing a water supply project for the urban poor. The challenges include disproportionate representations of actors in participation, lacks in decentralization and local sociopolitical and bureaucratic complexities. The paper argues that the challenges are a result of participation ‘from-a-distance’ by the government authorities which needs to be considered for successful implementation of participatory water governance. The paper concludes by suggesting that the new initiatives of participatory governance need revisiting and reformations particularly in the context of supplying environmental services for the urban poor.