Rural water service delivery and innovations in Uganda

This study seeks to improve the delivery of rural water services in Uganda by understanding the key challenges and bottlenecks that are currently confronting service delivery and to identify innovative approaches, which may be piloted. A combination of household questionnaires, semi-structured household interview questions, the qualitative information systems methodology for focus group discussions, field observations as well as key informant interviews were employed to gather the necessary data. A set of 16 water user groups and committees (WUC) s were mobilized in each of the 8 districts from northern and western Uganda, and a random selection of 1600 households. The results showed a well-functioning water user committee and collection of the user fee is a prerequisite to safe and reliable water supply. Furthermore, the creation of a savings group which engaged in other economic activities made the WUC more sustainable and its adoption was thus recommended.