Impact of Key Players in Providing Sustainable Water Services in Busega District, Tanzania

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of key players in providing sustainable water services to rural women in Busega District, Tanzania. Triple-S (Sustainable Services at Scale) approach was adopted to analyse structures applied by key players/actors to deliver services and enable rural women to access water close to their households.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted through cross-sectional design to examine the existence of the situation at single visits. The sample size included 210 rural women who were visited in their households. A mixed research approach was applied to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. As such, primary data was collected by using household surveys, semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations and focus group discussions. Instruments used for collecting data were sets of questionnaire, interview guides or checklists and observations. In addition, documentaries were reviewed to collect secondary data. Content analysis was done to consolidate qualitative data. Quantitative data were analysed through One-Way ANOVA to compute a five-point Likert scale, descriptive statistics and Chi-square test.
 Findings: Results revealed that only 35% of the respondents received sufficient water supplies from key players/actors due to weak structures and poor management of their services.
 Research Limitation: The study involved rural women whereas during the household survey most of them were occupied by several duties that resulted in scheduling dialogues by considering their daily schedules.
 Practical Implication: The article recommends that to ensure sustainable access to and use of water services in rural areas, the Ministry of Water and Energy need to construct reliable sources and facilitate local key players/actors to improve their services and meet the required demands.
 Social Implication: The article provides knowledge to literature by creating awareness to water key players/actors to apprehend how their services were highly desired by rural women to reduce their workload of walking long distances.
 Originality/Value: The article revealed that key players/actors who provided water services failed to ensure sustained access to fundamental supplies in rural areas.