posted on 2018-02-12, 15:10authored byPaul Hutchings, Richard Franceys, Snehalatha Mekala, Stef Smits
In the community management model significant support from government and other entities is needed to ensure sustainable rural water services. The Community Water plus project investigates the nature and resource implications of such support in twenty community-managed rural water programmes that have been deemed to be successful in India. This paper presents the research framework and discusses the emerging findings from the first nine case studies. Contrary to the research hypothesis, which is that in these successful cases a significant amount of on-going specialist support will be found, the findings to date are showing a considerable level of support in the project implementation stage but a limited amount of specialist support in the service delivery and capital maintenance phases. However, in many of the cases, the close integration of community management in the prevailing system of local government, particularly the Gram Panchayats, creates an underlying mechanism for support during the service delivery phase. Whilst this arrangement has pragmatic benefits, it also raises questions about the boundaries between what constitutes community management and public service provision, as well as about the lines of accountability between communities, service providers and local governments.
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Research Unit
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Published in
WEDC Conference
Citation
HUTCHINGS, P. ... et al, 2015. Community water plus: assessing the plus of successful community-managed rural water supply in India. IN: Shaw, R.J. (ed). Water, sanitation and hygiene services beyond 2015 - Improving access and sustainability: Proceedings of the 38th WEDC International Conference, Loughborough, UK, 27-31 July 2015, 6pp.
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