Challenging pathways to safe water access in rural Uganda: From supply to demand-driven water governance

Abstract

Uganda has experienced a major policy shift from a supply-driven to a demand-driven approach in rural water provision since 1990. The article sheds light on the rural population's access to safe water within the changing institutional frameworks. We analysed individual and group interviews with key informants from national to community levels and relevant official documents with the 'SocialEcological Systems' framework and the 'design principles'. Since the implementation of the demand-driven approach, rural safe water coverage has slightly improved but operation and maintenance of water sources pose a great challenge hampering, longterm access to safe water. The abrupt and top-down imposed policy shift has resulted in competing signals from old and new policies creating uncertainty and ambiguity about responsibilities, rules and incentives. The analysis shows the importance of taking into account the implications of national institutional disturbances on local collective action for long-term access to safe water.

Suitability of Drinking Water Sources from Nyaruzinga Wetland for Domestic Use in Bushenyi Municipality, Uganda

“…However, millions of people in developing countries do not have access to adequate and safe water supply due to the increasing population and urbanization [3]. For instance, access to safe water remains a challenge in Africa with an overall estimate of 62% while access in rural areas is approximated at 47% [4] [5]. The overall access in Uganda is about 66% with 42% in rural areas [6].…”

Cattle as technological interventions: The gender effects of water demand in dairy production in Uganda

“…), but they must also wrestle with less malleable factors, notably their environment and the availability of water. Safe water continues to be a scarce resource for large portions of rural Ugandans (Afrobarometer 2015;Naiga et al 2015Naiga et al , 2017. In this context, an asset transfer program has inserted a technology that is water intensive and requires safe water to ensure optimal performance into a space that is periodically water scarce and (or) lacking safe water.…”

Not quite what’s on paper? Comparison between theoretical and actual information-sharing networks in the Ugandan rural water service sector

“…Point water source technologies in rural Uganda include "deep and shallow wells fitted with hand pumps, protected springs, public taps from gravity-flow schemes and rainwater harvesting tanks" (Mugumya 2013, p. 10). Several studies (Forster 2013;Mugumya 2013;Naiga et al 2015) note that rural communities across Uganda with these point water technologies typically face similar challenges.…”

“…Extensive literature (eg Chowns 2015;Naiga et al 2015) affirms that water provision among many rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa is typically problematic. Widely cited problems include multiple water delivery approaches employed by numerous actors, which are often uncoordinated and unsuited to local conditions; inadequate monitoring of water sources by state actors due to resource constraints and logistical difficulties; little sense of ownership among communities of water projects and infrastructure; weak voluntarism among community-based water user communities; and nonfunctionality of hand pumps (Golooba-Mutebi 2012; Van den Broek and Brown 2015;Naiga et al 2015). During the 1990s, the 'top-down state-led' approach to rural water provision was widely criticised for having ignored and failed communities (Van den Broek and Brown 2015, p. 51).…”