Water Resources and Rural Development最新文献

We investigate the impacts of access to piped water on drinking water quality, sanitation, hygiene and health outcomes in marginalized rural households of north-western Bangladesh, using a quasi-experimental setup. A government organization – the Barindra Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) – established a piped water network to connect rural households with the deep ground water resources and improve their access to potable water. Using propensity score matching, the study compares a treatment and a control group of households to identify gains in water-sanitation, hygiene and health outcomes. In terms of water safety, we find no improvement in the quality of drinking water, measured by E. coli count per 100 ml of water at the point of use (i.e. the pots and jars used to store it). Food utensils tested positive for E. coli in both the control and treatment group, thus showing no improvement through the BMDA intervention. Hygiene behavior such as handwashing with soap after defecation or before feeding children also does not improve. Finally, we do not find evidence of health benefits, such as decreased diarrhea incidence of under-five children or improved nutritional outcomes such as stunting, underweight and wasting. Although access to BMDA piped water in the premises is subject to a fee, it seems this incentive mechanism is not strong enough to improve water behavior or its outcomes: treated households are as poor as the non-treated in terms of maintaining hygiene and water quality, possibly because of lack of information.

This paper presents the results of research on the factors that influence drinking-water security and the relationship between this and the determinants of rural water-demand. Based on qualitative data collected in sub-tropical and Andean communities of canton Cotacachi, a region in the North–East part of Ecuador, it suggests that water insecurity emerges from socio-economic and environmental particular sub-regional characteristics. These have also an influence on peoples’ perceptions of drinking-water security and the determinants of water demand. The study shows how the generalisation of the factors that influence water security to all areas of an administrative region, like a municipality, or a supposedly geographically homogenous area, like “the Andes” or “the subtropics”, is not appropriate and the application of “one-size fits all” policies can be counterproductive. Instead the management of water provision would need to be tailored to the particular social and environmental territorial characteristics taking into account the specific perceptions of population groups regarding water security and the possibilities of their water systems to respond to water demand.

Critical mass dynamics have been widely used to explain the initiation and spread of collective behaviours, from protests and political representation, through to vaccinations and adoption of new technologies. For the first time, this study applies critical mass theory to community waterpoint financial contributions in rural sub-Saharan Africa. The presence of critical mass points, cooperative equilibria and self-reinforcing growth dynamics is empirically evaluated through assessment of multi-decadal waterpoint financial records from rural Kenya, comprising 43,020 household payments over a 26 year period. An examination of month-to-month changes in user contribution rates and financial record continuity suggests contribution levels remain relatively stable once more than 60% of water users are paying. Revenue collection systems tend to become unstable and are prone to collapse during the wet season if user contributions drop below a 60% threshold, but appear to be more resilient in dry season with evidence of self-reinforcing growth dynamics when 40–60% of users contribute. Results reveal that some communities are able to sustain their waterpoint over a long period of time even if a moderate proportion of users do not contribute financially. The analysis also highlights the influence of climate patterns on community-based financing, and the fragility of collective behaviours during wetter periods. Further investigation is needed to assess what dynamics emerge in a more representative sample of waterpoints, particularly in the first few years after installation when failures commonly occur.

This paper evaluates the scale of local economic benefits arising from recreational angling tourism in a rural community. The analysis is carried out using survey data of recreational anglers in the remote, coastal village of Waterville in Co. Kerry, south-west Ireland. This region is a popular tourist angling destination as it offers diverse angling opportunities including freshwater angling for species such as salmon and sea-trout as well as sea angling for species like bass and pollack. The analysis estimates the impact of anglers’ expenditure on incomes in the Waterville area. The estimated contribution of angling tourism to the local economy in the Waterville area was between € 41–58 per trip or € 8–11 per angler day. Angler trips, on average, contributed between 0.1–0.15% of mean household income to the local economy during 2015. Regression analysis of angler expenditures indicated that while slight, anglers exhibited higher expenditures in the local area if they were long time repeat visitors and opted for hotel/B&B type accommodation arrangements rather than a privately owned holiday home or camping/self-catering type accommodation arrangement. The expenditure of tourists solely engaged in freshwater game angling was higher than other anglers including those that engage in other local cultural and sporting activities.

We describe a participatory action research journey with the Anlo Beach fishing community, Ghana, to promote women's participation in decision-making. It was clear from an early stage that women were absent from formal decision-making platforms, making it difficult for their livelihood and wellbeing challenges to be addressed. We began our work with a belief that community transformation can be achieved only if all community members, including women, participate actively in development projects. We adopted a gender transformative participatory action research approach. We find that before initiating participatory projects, it is critical to address gendered power asymmetries through capacity development to enable marginalised groups to effectively participate in decision making processes. By opening space for leadership to emerge from marginalised groups, participatory action research can bring about transformative and sustainable outcomes. When their needs are genuinely addressed, community members can champion development activities that transform their communities. Implementing such initiatives, however, requires substantial investment and a fundamental change in the way participatory development initiatives are implemented.

Improved soil and water management practices can reduce moisture stress and crop failures associated with rain-fed cropping systems. Little information exists on soil and water management technologies requirements for male and female farmers in different agro-ecological regions. The objective of current study was to investigate farmers’ sources of information and perceptions on soil and water management technologies. Four sites selected from different agro-ecological regions (AERs), sub-humid (Mazowe/Goromonzi, and Kadoma) and semi-arid (Matobo and Chiredzi). Data on sources of information on soil and water management, types of technologies preferred by farmers and constraints to adoption of technologies were collected through household interviews and focus group discussions. Results showed that government extension agents, farmer-to farmer extension and non-governmental organizations were the main sources of information on soil and water management technologies at all the sites. NGOs mainly provide information on reduced tillage methods. Main technologies were mulching (61%), reduced tillage methods (53%), and contour ridges (33%) in Mazowe/Goromonzi district, reduced tillage method (83) and mulching (64%) in Kadoma, and reduced tillage methods (54%) and contour ridges (47%) in Matobo. More farmers used soil and water management technologies at the sub-humid sites than at the semi-arid sites. Soil and water conservation technologies used were similar between male-headed (MHH) and female-headed households (FHH). Soil and water conservation technologies used by farmers matched their preferences in two of the four study sites. The findings are important for targeting soil and water management practices in the various agro-ecological zones.

We examine the social impacts of reservoir construction and management on communities located downstream from four hydropower projects in central Laos using the sustainable livelihoods framework to categorise and quantify impacts across environmental, financial, physical, human and social domains. Hydropower projects had profound impacts on the livelihoods of riparian households living downstream of the case study dams. Many were positive. Employment, social programs and infrastructure development were direct benefits. Indirect benefits included improvements in tourism and hospitality facilities as a consequence of hydropower project infrastructure such as access roads. For most case study households, these beneficial impacts outweighed adverse impacts on riverine fisheries. Minimising negative impacts and maximising the potential benefits requires that the construction, operation, and direct and indirect relations of the project operator with the communities meet appropriate standards of social responsibility. Policy implications of the research for hydropower policy in Laos, such as conditioning development, are discussed.

As attention increasingly turns to the sustainability of rural water supplies - and not simply overall levels of coverage or access - water point functionality has become a core concern for development practitioners and national governments, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within the long-enduring Community-Based Management (CBM) model this has resulted in increased scrutiny of the “functionality” of the local water point committee (WPC) or similar community management organisation. This paper reviews the literature written from both practice-focused and critical-academic perspectives and identifies three areas that pose challenges to our understanding of water point functionality as it relates to CBM. These concern the relative neglect of (i) the local institutional and socio-economic landscape, (ii) broader governance processes and power dynamics, and (iii) the socio-technical interface. By examining these three areas, the paper engages with the specific issue of WPC functionality, whilst also considering broader issues relating to the framing of problems in development and the methodological and disciplinary ways that these are addressed. Furthermore, by focusing on community management of rural water points, the paper lays the ground for a more substantial critique of the continuing persistence of the CBM model as a central development strategy.