scholarly journals Community management does not equate to participation: fostering community participation in rural water supplies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine F. Shields ◽  
Michelle Moffa ◽  
Nikki L. Behnke ◽  
Emma Kelly ◽  
Tori Klug ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Collaborative Planning ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Community Management ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Community management has remained the dominant paradigm for managing rural water supplies in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a widespread perception that community participation principles are inherently embedded in the community management model. In this paper, we analyze how an international nongovernmental organization engages rural communities in their rural water projects, and the ways in which community members are able to participate in the management and governance of their water supplies. Qualitative data were collected in 18 study communities – six each in Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia – through interviews, focus group discussions, and participatory mapping with community and water committee members. We argue that community management does not inherently lead to broader community participation, but rather that fostering community participation requires intentionality. We recommend implementers use collaborative planning processes and explicitly engage with intra-community diversity and inequalities in order to facilitate the opportunity for all community members to meaningfully participate in decision-making. Collaborative planning with diverse groups will also allow community members to realize their rights to transparency and accountability once community management structures are in place.

scholarly journals “From Experts to Locals Hands” Healthcare services Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insight from the Integrated Community Case Management of Ghana

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Annobil ◽  
FRANCIS DAKYAGA ◽  
Mavis Sillim
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Community Case Management ◽  
Health Care Planning ◽  
Integrated Community Case Management ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background: Although community participation remains a global reckon in services planning, evidence on how rural communities participate in health service delivery has less been explored in Sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: We explored communities’ participation in health care planning in hard-to-reach communities, within the context of Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM), of Ghana. Methods: Qualitative data were collected from eleven (11) hard-to-reach communities through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) as well as district level studies (Nadowli-Kaleo, and WA districts of Ghana). The Rifkin’s spider-gram, framework, of inputs, process and outcome indicators was adapted for the study. The results: Community participation was superficially conducted by the CHOs. A holistic community needs assessment to create awareness, foster common understanding of health situations, collaboration, acceptance and ownership of the program was indiscernible. Rather, it took the form of an event, expert-led-definition, devoid of coherence to calve locals understanding to support the program. Consequently, evidence of resource mobilization, monitoring and system of leaderships towards sustainability of the program were not explicitly found. Conclusion and recommendation: The study concludes that there is the need to expand the concept of community involvement in ICCM to facilitate communities’ contribution to their healthcare. Also, a transdisciplinary approach is required for engineering and scaling up community-based health programs, empowering VHCs, CBHVs and CHAs to realize success.

scholarly journals Do rope and washer pumps provide safe water and satisfied users? A case study piloting new rural water supply technology in Rumphi District, Malawi

Water SA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3 July) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob C Mkandawire ◽  
Mavuto Tembo ◽  
Muthi Nhlema ◽  
Joel Luhanga ◽  
Rochelle H Holm
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Rural Water Supply ◽  
Safe Water ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Sub Saharan

Innovation is needed to develop rural water supply to support sub-Saharan Africa communities that are hard to reach. The purpose of this study was to critically review rope and washer pumps that have been installed on manually drilled boreholes in 48 communities as part of a pilot project in Rumphi District, Malawi, and which serve as a sustainable source of drinking water from both technical (water quality and functionality) and social (user satisfaction) perspectives. At each water source, an infrastructure checklist was used (n = 48); 10 users were interviewed (n = 472); and, if the pump had water, water quality samples were collected (n = 24). The results show that use of a professional driller does not guarantee a functioning rope and washer pump that produces safe water. Where the pumps were functional, most provided safe drinking water. However, only 8% (4/48) of pumps had good water quality, a flow rate of >20 L/min and a full consensus of positive satisfaction among users. Pumps are not necessarily working better or worse in more remote areas. A process of introducing and creating evaluative guidelines for new (approved) technologies for rural water supply has not been established in Malawi. Sub-Saharan African governments need to be open to innovative solutions while making sure that standards, including those for functionality, water quality, user satisfaction, private operators, and human capacity for local government regulators, are being followed to ensure safe water for rural communities.

scholarly journals Rural Water Collection Patterns: Combining Smart Meter Data with User Experiences in Tanzania

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1164
Author(s):  
Will Ingram ◽  
Fayyaz Ali Memon
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Smart Meters ◽  
Piped Water ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Water Collection ◽  
Sub Saharan

Water collection from piped water distribution systems (PWSs) in rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa is not understood in much detail. Here, distances travelled to distribution points (DPs), volumes collected, times of day of collection, and the relationship between location of DP and volume dispensed are investigated in a rural community in Tanzania using a combination of novel smart pre-payment meters and results from surveys and interviews. Continuous availability of water through pre-payment smart meters is shown to eliminate queue time, freeing time for farming or schooling, and enhance revenue collection for service provision. 97% of users use DPs as a main source of drinking water as opposed to unimproved alternative sources, and 42% live further than 400 m from a DP. Collection occurs across daylight with greater volumes dispensed in the afternoon–evening due to free time from economic activities and children returning from school. A low mean daily collection of 47 L per household from DPs is approximated. Volume dispensed across different DPs over time shows no clear pattern. However, the volume dispensed is indicated by the number of households that use each DP. Increasing PWS capacity can accommodate for variable collection patterns, and help improve sustainability of rural water supply.

Community management of rural water supplies

Waterlines ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wood
Keyword(s):  
Community Management ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Rural Water

scholarly journals Working with community researchers to enhance rural community engagement around Private Water Supplies: an exploration of the benefits and challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 146879412097888
Author(s):  
Rachel Creaney ◽  
Mags Currie ◽  
Paul Teedon ◽  
Karin Helwig
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Employment Opportunities

This project employed community researchers as a means of improving community engagement around their Private Water Supplies (PWS) in rural Scotland. In this paper, we reflect on working with community researchers in terms of the benefits and challenges of the approach for future rural research that seeks to improve community engagement. The paper (1) critiques the involvement of community researchers for rural community engagement, drawing on the experiences in this project and (2) provides suggestions for good practice for working with community researchers in rural communities’ research. We offer some context in terms of the role of community members in research, the importance of PWS, our approach to community researchers, followed by the methodological approach and findings and our conclusions to highlight that community researchers can be beneficial for enhancing community engagement, employability, and social capital. Future community researcher approaches need to be fully funded to ensure core researchers can fulfil their duty of care, which should not stop when data collection is finished. Community researchers need to be supported in two main ways: as continuing faces of the project after the official project end date and to transfer their newly acquired skills to future employment opportunities.

scholarly journals A metric-based assessment of flood risk and vulnerability of rural communities in the Lower Shire Valley, Malawi

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 ◽  
pp. 139-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Adeloye ◽  
F. D. Mwale ◽  
Z. Dulanya
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Flood Depth ◽  
Inundation Area ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract. In response to the increasing frequency and economic damages of natural disasters globally, disaster risk management has evolved to incorporate risk assessments that are multi-dimensional, integrated and metric-based. This is to support knowledge-based decision making and hence sustainable risk reduction. In Malawi and most of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), however, flood risk studies remain focussed on understanding causation, impacts, perceptions and coping and adaptation measures. Using the IPCC Framework, this study has quantified and profiled risk to flooding of rural, subsistent communities in the Lower Shire Valley, Malawi. Flood risk was obtained by integrating hazard and vulnerability. Flood hazard was characterised in terms of flood depth and inundation area obtained through hydraulic modelling in the valley with Lisflood-FP, while the vulnerability was indexed through analysis of exposure, susceptibility and capacity that were linked to social, economic, environmental and physical perspectives. Data on these were collected through structured interviews of the communities. The implementation of the entire analysis within GIS enabled the visualisation of spatial variability in flood risk in the valley. The results show predominantly medium levels in hazardousness, vulnerability and risk. The vulnerability is dominated by a high to very high susceptibility. Economic and physical capacities tend to be predominantly low but social capacity is significantly high, resulting in overall medium levels of capacity-induced vulnerability. Exposure manifests as medium. The vulnerability and risk showed marginal spatial variability. The paper concludes with recommendations on how these outcomes could inform policy interventions in the Valley.

Features of Rural Communities in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa That Influence Well-Being of Older Persons

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 420-421
Author(s):  
Andrew Banda ◽  
Norah Keating ◽  
Jaco Hoffman ◽  
Jose Parodi ◽  
Nereide Curreri
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Older People ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract In their recent volume, Critical Rural Gerontology, Skinner et al (2021) challenge us to set aside unidimensional notions of rural communities as bypassed vs very supportive; and to identify the elements of rurality that empower or exclude older people and how these differ across cultures and settings. Covid-19 has highlighted the need for safe and inclusive communities. Given that LMIC will be home to the majority of older adults (Gonzales et al. 2015), we undertook a scoping review of features of rural communities that influence wellbeing of older people in countries across Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The review included literature in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, using search engines MEDLINE, CINAHL Complete, PsycInfo, SocINDEX, SciELO, AJOL (Africa Journals Online), LILACS, Redalyc, LatinIndex and Clacso. Findings illustrate diversity in how community features including remoteness, infrastructure and belonging influence material, social and subjective wellbeing of older residents.

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