Evaluating the effectiveness of water users associations in promoting active community participation in operation and maintenance of rural gravity-fed water supply schemes

Abstract

Water Users Associations (WUAs) have been perceived to be effective in promoting participation in operation and maintenance of rural gravity-fed piped water supply schemes in Malawi (Prisca Kutengule, Community Participation Specialist-NWDP, Personal Communication, 2015). There has been no known evaluation of the extent of community participation in rural gravity-fed schemes managed by WUAs in Zomba district and no analysis of their effectiveness. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of WUAs in promoting active community participation in the operation and maintenance of rural gravity-fed piped water supply schemes in Zomba District. The methodology included literature and documentary review and participatory methods such as household survey questionnaire, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews. The effectiveness of community participation in WUAs was analyzed based on the Yorkshire Forward (2000) framework for benchmarking community participation. Household questionnaires were analyzed using IBM-SPSS while the thematic approach was used to analyze qualitative data from key informant interviews and FGDs. The findings indicate that communities are not playing an active part and have no significant degree of power and influence. The findings also revealed that WUAs are not inclusive and do not provide equal opportunities to disadvantaged groups in the community to participate. The findings further indicate that WUAs have no two-way information strategies and procedures are not clear and easily accessible by community members. Furthermore, the findings have revealed that there is limited support from external agencies to enable communities effectively take control over assets and decision making processes. In summary, the findings suggest that WUAs have not been effective in promoting active community participation in operation and maintenance of rural gravity-fed schemes in Zomba district. Taking into account the above concerns it is therefore recommended that when establishing WUAs, Government and other partners should ensure that community led sustainability strategies are developed at an early stage to allow for skills and confidence building and planned transfer of assets and decision making processes. It is apparent that community management of rural water supply schemes without external support is not an ideal solution for achieving sustainability. So it is recommended that the District Council and other partners should ensure that regular monitoring and support programmes are conducted taking into account community capacity needs.