Institutionalization of community participation in rural water supply, Pakistan

Community participation is a basic requirement for improving financial and managerial capacity for operation and maintenance of rural water supply schemes. Institutionalization of community participation requires a detailed action plan, which involves institutional reforms in the public sector as well as the formation of effective village and women’s organizations. In Pakistan, the Public Health Engineering Department was reorganized to include three new departments: Community Participation, Human Resources and Training, and MIS. The project teams were hired and trained to assist villages in carrying out the community participation process. This process includes formation of representative village development associations (VDA) and women’s organizations, conduct of regular meetings, collection of user fees, health and hygiene education, and provision of in-kind contribution. After the completion of water supply schemes, VDAs are required to takeover operation and maintenance. The post-operational study shows that this approach has helped to improve willingness to pay (WTP) due to improved quality and reliability of water supply.