Can ‘functionality’ save the community management model of rural water supply?

Whaley, Luke; Cleaver, Frances

doi:10.1016/j.wrr.2017.04.001

Cited by 100 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In section 2, we outlined the political history of CBM in relation to rural groundwater supply. This analysis revealed a hybrid ideological underpinning that has made CBM a compelling model, relieving governments and donors of responsibility for ongoing operation and maintenance whilst continuing to assert the empowerment of communities (Colin 1999, Blaikie 2006, van den Broek and Brown 2015, Whaley and Cleaver 2017. We therefore suggest, along with other critical literature (Mosse 1999, Cornwall and Brock 2005, Blaikie 2006), that the ongoing popularity of CBM is shaped as much by this ideological undercurrent as by empirical evidence of effectiveness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…A set of twenty-three questions assess the four WMA dimensions using a three-point scale. The definition of a functioning WMA was developed from a literature review and team discussions (see Whaley and Cleaver 2017). 9 A site is defined as a borehole and its user community, where the user community constitutes either all or a part of the population of a village.…”

Section: Social Survey Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acknowledging the need for better evidence regarding the performance of CBM of groundwater, there have been several recent attempts to understand the 'socio-technical interface' (Whaley and Cleaver 2017); that is, the relationship between the community management arrangement and the physical water point. Whilst a growing number of studies are concerned with this relationship (Stawicki 2012, Foster 2013, Welle and Williams 2014, Fisher et al 2015, many of them base their approach upon normative assumptions about the social and physical dimensions of rural water supply that may misrepresent real-world situations in important ways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One common assumption is that a formal waterpoint committee, with a constitution, rules, tariffs, and defined roles is needed to ensure effective borehole management. It has been argued that this assumption is flawed (Cleaver 2002, Ducrot 2017, Whaley and Cleaver 2017. A focus only on the functioning of a water point committee disregards the many ways in which communities actually manage their boreholes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Whaley

MacAllister

Bonsor

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Social Survey Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Whaley

MacAllister

Bonsor

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Community-based management (CBM) has proven to be an enduring strategy for operationalizing mainstream participatory development in rural water supply projects and programmes in sub-Saharan Africa [1,2]. This participatory agenda took hold in the 1980s, the first UN "Water Decade", in the face of general disillusionment with top-down and supply-driven approaches [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Managed Water Supply Systems in Rural Uganda: The Role of Participation and Capacity Development

Etongo

Fagan

Kabonesa

et al. 2018

Water

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Over 85% of Uganda’s 34 million people depend on rural water supply systems and the current water and environment sector performance report (2017) reports an 84% functionality of rural water sources such as boreholes and shallow wells with a hand pump. Ensuring the continued operation of water points, and in keeping with participatory theory, the water user’s committees (WUCs) should also be a vehicle for empowering communities while bringing about greater equity of use. However, WUC members do not acquire the knowledge and skills they need by default but require different types of training. This study sought to evaluate community participation and capacity development in WUCs in relation to community-managed water supply systems. A shared dialogue workshop (SDW), as well as 642 randomly selected households across 17 villages in two Parishes in Lwengo district, southern Uganda were considered. Results indicated that 41.7% of surveyed households used an unprotected source while up to 30% had a member in a WUC. Fifty-two percent of households had never made any financial contributions to a WUC, while 34.6% did so on an ad hoc basis. This paper examines the relationship between participation, mobilization, and financial contributions. The chi-square test indicated mobilization has no impact on household financial contributions to a WUC. However, the majority of even those households that were mobilized made a payment only occasionally, and specifically when the source broke down. Additionally, the test result reveals that there is no difference between better off and relatively poor households in their contributions to a WUC, an indication that other factors influence such decisions. Training activities, especially on the operation and maintenance of water points and to undertake minor repairs, were mostly provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/project staff. Abandoned boreholes, lack of rehabilitation activities, and loss of enthusiasm are all indications that the technical, financial, and institutional performance of community-managed water supply systems needs improvement.

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