We analyze the relationship between perceptions of domestic water access, and quality, in relation community engagement. While others have suggested linkages between material conditions of water access and engagement (e.g., that poor water access might spur engagement), to date there have been no studies those test these relationships using statistical methods. Based on a quantitative analysis of survey data from underserved sites in Accra, Ghana, and Cape Town, South Africa, our results show that water access and quality are both predictive of community engagement. The analysis also makes a strong case that there are different dimensions when considering the material conditions of water-in this case, water access and quality each condition engagement in opposite directions. Furthermore, consistent with other studies, our study also shows different demographics (notably gender) mediate these relationships in important ways. Introduction: Community Engagement and Materialities of Water Recent conceptual debates have highlighted linkages between conditions of environmental resources and community engagement-from work in environmental citizenship (Latta and Wittman 2012), to "environmentality" (Agrawal 2005) or notions of "hydraulic citizenship" (Anand 2011). While several works have suggested that material conditions of resources influence and shape sociopolitical processes of engagement, governance, or citizenship, there is still limited understanding of these dynamics. To address this gap, we offer a statistical analysis of the relationship between water materialities and community engagement. Drawing on survey data from underserved urban areas of Accra, Ghana, and Cape Town, South Africa, the analysis considers two dimensions of water materialities: access and quality. Results suggest that water access and quality are significant predictors of community engagement, albeit in opposite directions (access has a negative relationship, and quality a positive one). As such, our study lends support to the broad interest in the ways that material resource conditions influence sociopolitical processes, while also underscoring the need for clarity regarding specific facets of materialities. Our results also validate arguments in the literature related to the variability of water-society linkages 2 with respect to gender and country context. Resource Materialities: Debates from Political Ecology, Science and Technology Studies, and Allied Fields Literatures on materiality from political ecology, science and technology studies, and allied traditions have pointed to the biophysical and ecological characteristics or qualities of resources, suggesting that material and infrastructural conditions have important consequences for sociopolitical processes, including the ways in which resources are used, governed, or imagined (cf., Bakker 2003). For instance, Kaika (2005) discusses how infrastructures that enable easy access to water (by simply turning on a home tap) may contribute to a sense of disassociation between residents and...

Rainwater harvesting presents a viable option for securing water availability in order to increase food production. The study focuses on rural youth in Luphisi and Dwaleni villages in the Mpumalanga Province and considers the relationship between youth capabilities and food security. The study uses qualitative data collected from focus group discussions and quantitative data from a baseline survey within the context of an integrated rainwater harvesting project. The indicators tapped into attributes related to trust, social cohesion, inclusion and sociability, and examined these within the context of the 'capability approach', to consider whether and in what ways these attributes can be linked to food security. Results show that youth have high levels of certain capabilities such as trust, social cohesion and inclusion, co-operation, self-esteem, and meaning. However, in other dimensions there are fewer opportunities, like access to networks, access to knowledge and information and sociability, which are lacking among youth and restrict opportunities for them to engage with issues around food and water security. The Chi-square test was used to investigate the relationship between youth capabilities and food security and at p<0.05 results showed that there was no relationship between youth capabilities and food security in Dwaleni. There were however three capabilities showing significant statistical relationships between youth capabilities and food security in Luphisi: collective action and co-operation, social cohesion and self-esteem. We argue that there are opportunities to build on existing capabilities and that, overall, the potential of youth for engaging in water resources management is not being tapped into.

Women's limited access to resources and decision-making processes increases their vulnerability to impacts of climate change. Despite their own vulnerability, women are often responsible for caring for close relatives, extended families and friends during hazardous and traumatic events (whether its famine, floods, drought or forced displacements). Based on experience and knowledge it is believed that women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than men, primarily as they constitute the majority of the world's poor and are more dependent for their livelihood on natural resources that are threatened by climate change. The paper proposes a gender sensitive vulnerable assessment framework that is scaffolded by three key concepts: exposure, temporality and resource base. Because the study is grounded in the Capability Approach Framework it captures multi-dimensionality and intangible goods which are emotions such as fear, anger, shock or shame. It seeks to better understand the differentiated responses of men and women to climate variations and stress such as extreme heat, cold, droughts or floods in a specific site, Lambani, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The main aim is to understand different responses of men and women to climate change in order to design and populate a vulnerability assessment (VA) framework. In order to do so the Capability Approach (CA) is applied as a theoretical frame with its lens on diversity and social justice. The CA thus provides an expanded notion of human well-being that taps into the emotional life of women and men in Lambani.

Attention to gender and equity has lagged behind in climate change research, programming, national policy-making and in the international negotiations. Studies on climate change and gender links with climate change have initially and by necessity been somewhat speculative in nature. While all societies are affected by climate change, the impacts also vary by location, exposure, and context specific social characteristics, identity, power relations and political economy. This draws attention to recognition of difference and sameness and the way in which common, confusing, contradictory results emerge across and within terrains. In its concern for gender-blindness, this paper specifically considers the way in which climate variability impacts on men and women in a given locale and captures the enriched narratives and voices of both rural women and men in two selected villages in Lambani, Limpopo Province, South Africa. To build women's participation in national climate change adaptation planning and to take heed of the multiple entanglements around this topic, participatory processes are required that enable diverse groups of disadvantaged women's as well as men's voices to be heard by policy-makers. We use participatory action research (PAR) to capture people's emotions and perceptions around climate change. In our context, difference is not positioned as the opposition to sameness. It is also incorporated into the self as difference within and is seen as a means of becoming. We consider climatic impacts to be moments where the human and non-human rub up against each other and where human affect becomes tangible. Here our attention to affect is twofold. Not only does it allow for a more realistic reflection of entanglements with nature but also we see affect as being more than emotion as it is a dynamic opening up to possibilities that can effectuate change.

The recent drought in the Western Cape Province in South Africa has been marked as the worst since 1904.  The drought impacted severely on the availability of bulk water supply in many parts of the Western Cape Province, particularly the Cape Town Metro and surrounding districts. In order to alleviate water scarcity, wastewater recycling (water reuse) has been identified to have the potential to augment water supplies in the province. This paper argues that although water recycling has the potential to contribute towards alleviating water scarcity, studies have shown that public perceptions greatly influence the outcome of any water recycling scheme. The study collected data using face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, and the application of the Story with a Gap participatory exercise. One of the key findings is that residents have to trust the municipal competencies and systems, and this can be achieved through meaningful engagement between the municipality and residents. We argue that rolling out a water reuse scheme by starting with affluent areas increases the likelihood of acceptance among low-income communities.