No abstract

This paper explores how transition management processes can be designed to address the unsustainability of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in informal settlements in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The unsustainability of services related to WASH in informal settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa is deeply embedded in current societal and governance structures, cultures, and practices; it is context-dependent and involves numerous actors with different interests. Based on a literature review and empirical work in Arusha (Tanzania), Dodowa (Ghana), and Kampala (Uganda), we identify five context dimensions that account for the unsustainability of WASH services: (a) multiplicity of WASH practices, structures, and arrangements; (b) governance capacities for WASH services and maintenance; (c) landownership for sustainable access to WASH; (d) public participation in decision-making related to WASH; and (e) socio-economic inequalities governing access to WASH. These dimensions pose numerous conceptual and application challenges for transition management. Based on these challenges, recommendations are formulated for the design of a contextualized, participatory transition management process that is not only functional, but also emancipatory.

This Perspective positions urban challenges in informal settlements in the Global South as a question of how to coproduce actionable knowledge for sustainability transitions, and how this relates to power issues. The aim is to inform those who are actively working on sustainability transitions in practice how to navigate the pluriform ways power matters in transitions. Also as a way to reflect on one's doings and as a starting point to develop research and/or policy programs that enable alternative solutions. This Perspective is based on fieldwork in three informal settlements in Kampala and focusses specifically on sustainability issues related to gaining access to, maintenance and control of water services. We highlight the importance of challenging dominant frames of places and communities, coproducing dynamic maps of power relations and interdependencies related to a specific urban challenge and taking into account the contextualized understanding of power relations within a political system.

The unsustainability of the services related to water, sanitation and hygiene in informal settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa services is deeply embedded in current societal and governance structures, cultures and practices; it is context-dependent and involves numerous actors with different interests. The field of sustainability transitions research addresses such persistent and large scale societal challenges, with transition management being one of its widely applied governance approach. By drawing on an analysis of the root causes of unsustainability and unreliability of WASH services in three case studies in Sub-Saharan Africa (Arusha-Tanzania, Dodowa-Ghana, Kampala-Uganda), we explore how a transition management approach can be designed to support a transition towards sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Sub-Saharan Africa. We distinguish the following contextual dimensions related to the unsustainability of WASH services: a) Multiplicity of WASH practices, structures and arrangements, b) Governance capacities for WASH services and maintenance, c) Landownership for sustainable access to WASH, d) Public participation in decision-making related to WASH, e) socio-economic structures governing access to WASH. These dimensions prompt the identification of conceptual and application challenges for transition management. Based on these challenges, recommendations were formulated for the design of a prescriptive transition management process that is not only functional but also emancipatory of character.