Rural Water Supply Sector Research Articles

Gender and social inclusion in community water resource management: lessons from two districts in the Himalayan foothills and the Terai in Nepal

ABSTRACT Despite decades of concerted efforts to address the problem, Nepal’s rural water supply sector continues to be laced with gender and social exclusion. This study provides insights from community water-user groups in two geographically and socially diverse contexts to better understand, from a gender and social inclusion perspective, and through institutional bricolage, how some water-user groups adapt to local contexts, shaping varied group dynamics that are not always equitable. Findings reveal that policies promoting social inclusion are difficult to implement amid the complex web of social and economic factors associated with community-managed water supply systems.

Water Scarcity in Aligambai Village, Alayadivembu Divisional Secretariat, Sri Lanka

The scarcity of drinking water creates major impacts on the rural community, in particular. The people living in Aligambai have been facing numerous problems in getting a safe drinking water supply, even for their daily drinking purpose. This paper sets out to identify the contributing factors toward water scarcity and how to cope with it by increasing water productivity as an integrated approach in the study area. This study is a combination of research methods; quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. It is built on the premise of the cultural theory, which can be used to study water scarcity issues in rural water points. Mainly, it tries to understand the gap between the performance of the rural water supply sector and the SDG Goal 6: ‘water & sanitation for all’ through networking with pluralist institutions and mechanisms. Research methods, such as interviews with key informants, direct observations, and Focus Group discussions, have been employed for the study. The secondary data were collected from the Aligambai Resource Profile, records from the GND/DS office, and the statistical records from the National Water Supply & Drainage Board. This study found that water scarcity has affected the community in terms of life and livelihood activities in Aligambai. Therefore, it tries to bring out potential solutions to coping with water scarcity by suggesting measures for water productivity at all levels through an integrated approach in the study area.

Water scarcity measurement in the Yobe region of Nigeria

ABSTRACT Water is an indispensable natural resource, critical to human well-being, socio-economic activities and development, access to which is a human right that guarantees poverty reduction. Despite the importance of water to mankind, rural areas often suffer the most of water scarcities that have been attributed to various characteristics and dispositions. However, the statistical indices developed and used for the measurement of the domestic water scarcity were highly inappropriate and fall short of depicting the actual picture of the situation. Thus, this study measured the rural households’ susceptibility to water scarcity using WSVI and the basic descriptive statistics. The mixed data for the study were primarily collected through a household survey on water availability and demand, whereas relevant research works and reports were reviewed as secondary data sources. Findings show hand dug-wells, boreholes and surface water bodies as the sources of water that the households depend upon for daily supplies – the service for which remained on women and girls. The WSVI computations revealed that the overwhelming majority of the studied households were experiencing high to acute water scarcities. Thus, the study recommends increased investments in the rural water supply sector, which would also reduce the socio-economic conditions on the population. The YSWSSP which has been highlighted with data inadequacies should be critically strengthened to enhance effective rural water service. Additionally, pieces of training to strengthen the methods of adaptation to water scarcity used by the households have been suggested

Evidence, ideology, and the policy of community management in Africa

This study examines the performance of the policy of community management for rural groundwater supply in Africa. Across the continent, policies that promote community management have dominated the rural water supply sector for decades. As a result, hundreds of thousands of village-level committees have been formed to manage community boreholes equipped with handpumps. With a significant proportion of these handpumps non-functional at any one time, increasing effort is targeted toward understanding the interacting social and physical determinants of this ‘hidden crisis’. We conducted a survey of community management arrangements across six hundred sites in rural Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda, examining the extent to which management capacity is related to borehole functionality whilst accounting for a range of contextual variables. The capacity of water management arrangements (WMAs) was assessed according to four dimensions: finance system; affordable maintenance and repair; decision making, rules, and leadership; and external support. The survey reveals that 73.3% of WMAs have medium or high capacity. However, we found no strong relationship between the capacity of the WMA and the functionality of the borehole. Of the four management dimensions, affordable maintenance and repair was the best predictor of borehole functionality. However, the capacity of this dimension was seen to be the lowest overall, with 61.9% of sites weak or non-existent. Our results provide very limited support for the policy of community management, and we suggest that evidence alone has not accounted for its persistence over decades. After a short historical analysis, we conclude that explanation for the endurance of this model can be found in the nexus between evidence, ideology, and policy. We argue that it is this same nexus that will likely ensure the popularity of community management for some time to come, despite new ideas and evidence to the contrary.

Stranded Assets as a Key Concept to Guide Investment Strategies for Sustainable Development Goal 6

The concept of Stranded Assets has been used for nearly 50 years across many sectors, most recently it has been a focus of investment portfolios in light of the possible impacts of climate change. However, to date there has been no in-depth determination of the impact of Stranded Assets for rural water supply, despite international development targets from Rio, through Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The limiting factor for carrying out such an assessment is the requirement of a full and detailed asset register recording all rural water supplies in a country. The Scottish Government Climate Justice Fund Water Futures Programme, in collaboration with the Government of Malawi, is undertaking a comprehensive asset audit across Malawi, and this paper introduces the concept of Stranded Assets for the rural water supply sector using Malawi as an exemplar. Here, we demonstrate how significant change in the implementation strategy for SDGs compared to the MDGs is needed to reduce the potential for Stranded Assets and meet its ultimate aim.

Small town water services sustainability checks: development and application in Ethiopia

Abstract With rising coverage figures and the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals, there is increasing attention given to assessing and monitoring the sustainability of water services. Previous efforts in the rural water supply sector have included the development of sustainability checks, while in the urban water supply sector, benchmarking of water services and the performance of utilities has become common practice. This paper argues that neither rural sustainability checks, nor urban benchmarking frameworks, are entirely suitable for monitoring small town water services. It presents a framework specifically developed and applied for assessing and monitoring small town water services. Application of the framework in seven small towns in Ethiopia shows significant discrepancies between the ideal and actual situations. It reveals specific challenges related to sustainable small town water service provision, including capacity at service provider (utility) level, asset management and regulation. The costs of sustainability checks and prospects for uptake as project and wider sector tools are discussed.

Is Community Management an Efficient and Effective Model of Public Service Delivery? Lessons from the Rural Water Supply Sector in Malawi

SummaryReform of the rural water supply sector occurred widely in the 1990s, when many low‐income countries replaced state‐led service provision with decentralized community management in the hope of generating improved technical and financial performance. This article asks whether these expected benefits have materialized in practice, and whether community management has strengthened institutional capacity at local, district and national level. Findings from a mixed‐methods study in four districts of Malawi show that both technical and financial performance under community management is weak. Maintenance is rarely done, repairs are slow and sub‐standard, and user committees are unable to collect and save funds: Average savings are just 2% of expected levels. Despite these failures, community management has ‘worked’ for the state (and donors) as a means of offloading responsibility for public service provision. The article suggests elements of an alternative framework for rural water supply that would tackle the technical and financial failures of community management, and notes that efforts to promote ‘local ownership’ in development must be undertaken with care. © 2015 The Authors. Public Administration and Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Explaining Levels of Local Government Involvement in Service Delivery: The Dynamics of Cross-Sector Partnerships in Malawi

SUMMARY This study explores how local governments and their development partners—that is, donors, non-governmental organisations and private companies—structure their partnerships as they work together to provide services to communities. Cases of collaboration between four organisations working in the rural water supply sector and six local governments in Malawi are studied. Using a cross-case qualitative methodology, we illustrate how power and control translate into practices, leading to different levels of local government involvement in service delivery. This study contributes to the literature on cross-sector partnerships in particular by developing empirically-based propositions that help explain the dynamic trajectories that partnerships between local governments and their development partners can take. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Overview on Management Patterns in Community, Private and Hybrid Management in Rural Water Supply

Rural water supply sector is urging for sustainability for long time. Till now sustainability is a dream. Enormous efforts for obtaining sustainability become fading due to improper selection of management model for delivery of water in rural areas. Demand driven approach, community participation, community management of services are well known and widely applied in the sector. Community management has proved itself as a good tool for short term and simple point water source management in rural areas. With the advent of technology and due to desire of rural community for more improved services, water supply sector seeks for new models like private or other form of hybrid management. This article attempts to review the merits and demerits of both community management models and private management models in line with sustainability concept. This paper further conceptually provides ground of selection of appropriate management model for sustainability based on the reviewed literatures.

Rural Water Supply in India: Trends in Institutionalizing People's Participation

The rural water supply sector in India experienced significant changes over the last three decades. Emergence of modern technologies, such as bore wells and deep tube wells, accelerated the coverage of rural areas with safe drinking water. Traditional water harvesting systems were gradually neglected and centralized water management was systematically promoted. The control and ownership shifted from people to government, reducing the communities as mere end-users. Central and state governments funded entire costs of water supply without any cost recovery from community. The impacts of modernization are being felt now. The supply-driven approach of water supply departments and inefficient management of key resources are resulting in poor service delivery. Over-exploitation of groundwater is resulting in the re-emergence of water-scarce villages. This situation necessitated reforms in the sector that promotes people's ownership and management of resources. Studies indicate that the performance of sector reform pilot projects being implemented in 63 districts of India is not very impressive. A national increase in reforms will be successful when micro-level diversity and innovations are preserved while introducing uniformity at the macro-level. The two case studies on successful micro-level models of NGOs offer valuable lessons for a nation-wide scale-up of reforms. Re-emergence of water scarce habitations, a supply-driven approach in service delivery, the absence of community participation and cost recovery, and problems in scaling-up reforms are the primary issues identified. The three essential strategies for long-term success of the reforms and sustainability of water supply systems are: a holistic approach to water management, direct community participation in resource management, and appropriate community institutional structures.

Rethinking rural water supply policy in the Punjab, Pakistan

This paper provides an analysis of public policy relating to the rural water supply sector in the Punjab, Pakistan. Based on household survey data, it shows that rural water policies have not kept pace with the rapid economic development in this region and that in the absence of adequate public investment households find private sector alternatives to meet their water needs, often at high economic and environmental cost. Using the contingent valuation method for benefit estimation, it is also shown that household willingness to pay for reliable improved services is much higher than assumed. In fact, full cost recovery is quite feasible in many areas of the Punjab. It is recommended that rural water sector strategy be changed from a centralized, supply‐oriented focus to a decentralized, demand‐oriented policy.

Policy reform and rural development assistance in Tanzania

AbstractTanzania for a long time refused to reform its economic policies along the lines recommended by the World Bank and IMF. Eventually the foreign exchange crisis forced the government to make the changes advocated by its own pragmatic economists and the Western donor community. The reforms were necessary, but not a panacea for all the problems which had plagued rural development programmes over the past decade. Three big problems still face basic‐needs programmes: the government administration has very little capacity to manage or back up programmes; neither the national nor district governments can afford them; and rural residents have not compensated for either of these deficiencies through their own participation and contributions. This article looks at two basic‐needs programmes in the rural water supply sector to illustrate how these long‐standing problems continue to affect implementation. Both programmes are funded and implemented by donors. The conclusion is that donors have not been sufficiently self‐conscious and innovative in grappling with the more intractable problems facing rural programme assistance in Tanzania.