Global Aid in the Water Sector: A Descriptive Analysis of International Development Effectiveness

Abstract

This study analyzes the intent and effectiveness of international development aid through a content/trend analysis of over 42,000 aid projects in the water supply and sanitation sector. The water sector is a vital and understudied component of international development that is rife with internal contradictions. On the one hand, access to water is rapidly increasing cross-nationally, but over 700 million still lack improved access to water. On the other hand, renewable freshwater resources per capita are rapidly decreasing, and annual freshwater withdrawals are steadily increasing. These concurrent issues lead to water stress and decreased freshwater sustainability, which in turn affects global political, ecological, and health issues. To address these issues, national governments and multinational aid agencies have been lending to the water supply and sanitation sector since 1950. This study assesses the trends in international aid over the past 65 years for their intent and effectiveness in solving global water and development issues. The results have implications for the development effectiveness of nations’ and organizations’ aid and calls for social scientists to investigate well-being and environmental impacts simultaneously in all sectors of development.

The global water crises: a cross-national analysis of metabolic rift theory

“…The abstraction of non-renewable groundwater has enabled society to turn deserts into cropland, but at unsustainable rates (Sanderson and Frey, 2014). Water use is unavoidable, but food waste, water inefficient irrigation methods, and monocropping exacerbate the strain on global water resources (Black and King, 2009;Hargrove, 2019). Due to these pressures, I expect that greater levels of agriculture as a percentage of total land area in a nation should be associated with increased water stress and lower levels of water access.…”

“…Can international aid to the water sector decrease water stress and connect all populations to a water source in a sustainable manner to begin healing the metabolic water rift? Hargrove (2019) finds in an analysis of over 42,000 international water aid projects that aid has focused heavily on human development goals like education, access, and health (98% of all water aid addresses these issues) and that far fewer aid projects have an environmental or sustainability goal (29% of projects have an environmental component). The analysis also finds that water aid's purpose may be more focused on international relations and posturing than on solving water issues (Hargrove, 2019).…”

“…Hargrove (2019) finds in an analysis of over 42,000 international water aid projects that aid has focused heavily on human development goals like education, access, and health (98% of all water aid addresses these issues) and that far fewer aid projects have an environmental or sustainability goal (29% of projects have an environmental component). The analysis also finds that water aid's purpose may be more focused on international relations and posturing than on solving water issues (Hargrove, 2019). Furthermore, water aid is fragmented and piecemeal, possibly leading to inefficiency and ineffectiveness.…”

“…The World Economic Forum has ranked water issues among the top five global risks for the past nine years (World Economic Forum, 2020). Currently, there are at least two separate, but concurrent water crises: a human health and development water crisis concerning populations who lack access to clean, safe drinking water and an environmental water crisis regarding freshwater scarcity, water stress, and freshwater resource depletion (Barlow, 2014;Hargrove, 2019;Bernabé-Crespo et al, 2019). These complex large-scale events threaten the social, economic, and ecological systems that underpin our species' existence (Galaz et al, 2011;Homer-Dixon et al, 2015).…”

“…Water access, water stress, and sustainability are overlapping issues, creating multifaceted problems for nations, including widespread disease, drought, flood, famine, environmental damage, ecological disasters, and political instability (Bryant and Bailey, 1997;Shiva, 2002;Taylor and Sonnenfeld, 2017;Trainer, 2019). Current solutions to these water crises ranging from global governance initiatives (international environmental treaties and the UN establishing water as a human right) and national policies (policies on privatization, framework laws on water, and legislation to protect water resources for future generations) to international development (billions of dollars of aid to the water sector and research on water solutions) do not adequately address the complex interrelated nature of water issues and make little effort to reduce the disruption that agriculture and development cause in the water cycle (Ahlborg and Nightingale, 2018;Hargrove, 2019). Drawing on human ecology perspectives, future solutions to these separate but connected problems of water access and water stress must aim to reduce disruption to the water cycle to allow for a sustainable future for both human society and the environment (Paulson and Gezon, 2005;Peet and Watts, 2004;Healy, 2019).…”