New paper on 'sense of ownership' and sustianability in rural water

Does sense of ownership matter for rural water system sustainability? Evidence from Kenya

Sara J. Marks, Kyle Onda and Jennifer Davis
   
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development Vol 3 No 2 pp 122–133 © IWA Publishing 2013 doi:10.2166/washdev.2013.098

ABSTRACT
Community sense of ownership for rural water infrastructure is widely cited as a key factor in ensuring sustainable service delivery, but no empirical investigation has evaluated the relationship between sense of ownership and sustainability outcomes. This study examines the association between system sustainability and sense of ownership among households and water committees, using primary data collected throughout 50 rural communities with piped water systems in Kenya. Data sources include in-person interviews with 1,916 households, 312 water committee members and 50 system operators, as well as technical assessments of water systems. Using principal components analysis we create composite measures of system sustainability (infrastructure condition, users' confidence, and ongoing management), and of water committees' and households' sense of ownership for the system. All else held constant, infrastructure condition is positively associated with water committee members' sense of ownership, whereas users' confidence and system management are positively associated with households' sense of ownership. These findings stand in contrast with much of the published literature on rural water planning, which assumes homogeneity of ownership feelings across all members of a community and which suggests a consistent and positive association between households' sense of ownership and sustainability.

Full paper here!

Sad news: Parveen Rehman killed in Pakistan

The long-time director of the Orangi Pilot Project in Pakistan was murdered this week. Parveen Rehman was a tireless champion for Karachi's low-income households. Under her leadership the OPP helped communities design and install sanitation facilities and low-cost sewerage for tens of thousands of households. The OPP's work has been controversial, and certainly not perfect from a technical standpoint, but it has made a real difference on the ground and also challenged the notion that low-income communities have little or no demand for improved sanitation services. Parveen Rehman will be sorely missed.

Impacts of biodigesters in Tanzania

This new paper in Energy for Sustainable Development by Jeannette Laramee & Jenna Davis quantifies the differences in fuelwood use and CO2e emissions between Tanzanian households with and without domestic biodigesters.
Abstract: Despite substantial programmatic investment in domestic bio-digesters across sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, little empirical evidence has been published regarding the existence or magnitude of socioeconomic or environmental benefits accruing from bio-digester implementation. A cross-sectional study of 40 households in Arusha, Tanzania, suggests that bio-digester adoption has the potential to reduce fuel-wood use, energy-related expenditures, and time-costs of energy procurement; to lower CO2e emissions; and to increase farm incomes. No significant differences in synthetic fertilizer use were observed between households with and without bio-digesters. Domestic bio-digester investments were found to have a positive net present value across a wide range of discount rates. Further, we estimate that domestic bio-digester implementation at the country wide level in Tanzania could potentially access $80–$115 million annually in carbon emissions reduction (CER) financing through the Clean Development Mechanism.
Read the full paper here.