Community-Managed Water Services: The Case of Peru

Abstract

Due to lack of economic resources and the geographical dispersion of the population, state and private for-profit water provision is not feasible in many remote rural areas of developing countries. In such instances, community-managed water systems emerge as an alternative mechanism to provide safe water. Despite their importance, little is known about this type of organizations. This paper examines the Juntas Administradoras de Servicios de Saneamiento (JASS), communal organizations that provide water services to more than 3 million people in rural and peri-urban areas of Peru. We focus on two important and related dimensions of the JASS. First, we empirically identify the factors associated to their existence in rural areas (economic resources of the municipalities, tradition of communal work, ethnic homogeneity). And second, we examine their organization and how they manage the water systems, which is importantly affected by the socioeconomic characteristics of the communities. Using the Peruvian JASS as a showcase, this paper sheds then some light on the potential viability of this type of organizations. We conclude that the JASS might be an important and effective alternative to organize the provision of water services in rural and isolated areas. However, the consolidation of these institutions requires adequate supervision to ensure that water systems are correctly designed and managed, and that internal governance problems do not compromise their sustainability.

Importance of internal factors for community-managed water and wastewater systems in Cochabamba, Bolivia

“…Worldwide there is an increasing trend towards participatory approaches that engage communities and citizens to take control of local environmental resources (Agrawal, 2001). Community management is often seen as part of the solution if all citizens are to gain access to safe drinking water (Barde, 2017;Calzada, Iranzo, & Sanz, 2017;González Rivas, Beers, Warner, & Weber-Shirk, 2014;Whittington et al, 2009). Mara and Alabaster (2008) argue that it is important to address groups of households and neighbourhoods to speed up access to improved water and sanitation services.…”

“…Informal service providers are generally not regulated or supervised by the state (Gerlach & Franceys, 2010;WHO, 2014). It is often highlighted that community-managed systems need external support to function in the long run (Calzada et al, 2017;Foster, 2013;Harvey & Reed, 2006;Hutchings et al, 2015). The experiences of water projects in developing countries show that many systems break down and stop functioning due to lack of maintenance.…”

“…Despite extensive research on community-managed water services, there is a need to better understand community-based water and sanitation services (Mandara et al, 2013;Moriarty et al, 2013), especially from a multidisciplinary point of view (Kumar, 2018). Some authors, such as Calzada et al (2017) and Dickin, Bisung, and Savadogo (2017), argue that there are few in-depth studies regarding the underlying mechanisms behind community management, i.e., few theory-building studies. The study presented here was therefore not limited to a predetermined set of parameters but was inclusive and explorative in character.…”

“…In addition, it tried to expand existing knowledge to self-organized communal systems and urban areas. Many studies focus on community-managed systems which have been initiated by external development programmes (Alexander, Tesfaye, Dreibelbis, Abaire, & Freeman, 2015;Chowns, 2015;Hoko & Hertle, 2006;Tigabu, Nicholson, Collick, & Steenhuis, 2013), though there are various forms of community management, including self-organized communal systems (Calzada et al, 2017;Ostrom, 2011;Pahl-Wostl, Lebel, Knieper, & Nikitina, 2012). Furthermore, few studies focus on community management in urban and peri-urban areas, despite its significance (Adjei & Charles, 2015;Cain, 2018;Kyessi, 2005;WHO, 2014), especially for the rapidly growing peri-urban areas (Butterworth & Warner, 2007).…”

“…Bolivia has a long tradition of community initiatives and various types of CBOs (Albro, 2006;Calzada et al, 2017). In the metropolitan area of Cochabamba, many neighbours join together and implement water and wastewater systems through community work and internal or external financing, due to the absence of state-driven service provision (Cabrera, Farah, & Teller, 2014;Hines, 2015;Marston, 2014;Minelli, 2012).…”