The Importance of Community Involvement in the Design and Planning Phases of Rural Water Supply Deve

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The Importance of Community Involvement in the
Design and Planning Phases of Rural Water Supply
Development Projects in Mali

• Dr. Tammo Steenhuis, Dr. Margaret Kroma, Brett
  Gleitsmann
• Cornell University and CIIFAD
• West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI)
• May 2005

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What I will discuss today

• Historically poor sustainability of hand pumps in
  the region
• Need for an adequate Quantity of water
• Importance of community involvement during the
  Design and Planning phases

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What to look out for.

• Consultative participatory approaches
• Technological determinism

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Project Setting

• Semi-arid (500-800 mm of rain annually)
• Short rainy period
• Water-scarce region no permanent surface water
• Millet cultivation and animal husbandry

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Dust Storm - 2003
region of study
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Research Methods

• Village Level
• Lived in the 3 villages of study for 6 months
• Water resource surveys (women)
• Formal/informal interviews with focus groups
  (women, hygiene, etc.)
• Direct observation and participation in daily
  activities

photo Tammo Steenhuis
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Research Methods

• Regional Level
• Formal interviews with
• Local government officials (mayors, governors)
• NGOs
• Entrepreneurs
• Regional Pump Inventory (28 villages)

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Villages of Study

• 3 Villages with differing groundwater levels
• Benebourou (5 m)
• Yadianga (25 m)
• Ogodouroukoro (75 m)

populations from 600 3,000 no permanent
surface water
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Groundwater Access
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• 2 Principal Types
• Large-diameter wells

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• Hand pumps
• India-Mali
• UPM

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UPM
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Drawing Water

• Women are responsible for household water
• Men are responsible for providing water to the
  livestock
• Youth (boys and girls) supply much of the labor

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Results Water Use

• Household
• Livestock
• Gardening

photo Tammo Steenhuis
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ResultsWater Use (Household)
Table 1. Daily Per Capita Domestic Groundwater
Use

• Per capita water use is similar in the 3 villages
• Abandon wells in rainy season for the seasonal
  ponds

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ResultsSource of Household Water

• Hand pumps play a minimal role, due to
• few pumps (2)
• low flow rates

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ResultsWater Use (Livestock)

• All water for livestock is from wells
• Nearly 45 of water is going to the livestock
• Ogodouroukoro to a slightly lesser extent, 35

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ResultsCommunity Priorities

• Women
• Ease of access
• Focus on household water
• Adequate quantity to be more hygienic

• Men
• Costs
• Livestock, gardening, fish ponds

The deeper the water, the more that water
scarcity became an issue
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Results Choice-of-Technology Preferences

• Local government perspectives (from 3-year county
  plans which were made with multi-day evaluations
  in each village)
• Large-diameter wells
• Village wide distribution (standposts)
• Solar pumps
• Rehabilitate existing large-diameter wells
• Large ponds for livestock and pisciculture
• No mention of hand pumps / Bondo example

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Results Choice-of-Technology Preferences

• NGO perspectives
• Official stance
• only technologies that provide safe, potable
  water (no wells)
• Personal views
• large-diameter wells should be 1st priority.
  Other technologies can be installed later.

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Results Literature Review

• Quantity has more effect on health than Quality
• (Cairncross 2003, Nyong and Kanaroglou 2001)
• To meet community needs, its not just water
  quality improvements convenience, ready access,
  time savings, etc.
• (Carter et al. 1993, Kendie 1992, Mu et al.
  1990)
• Sustainability improves with community
  involvement in design and planning (i.e. NO
  consultative participatory approaches)
• (Williams 1998, Bah 1992, Mangin 1991)

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Results State of the Hand Pumps
At First Look Total Number of Manual Pumps
In-Use, June 2004
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Results State of the Hand Pumps
Manual Pumps Meeting WHO Guidelines (Flow Rate gt
13 L / min), June 2004
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Results Current Water Supply Development
Approach (World Vision/WAWI)

• Work with mayors offices to make a list of
  potential villages
• Chosen villages pay 100,000 CFA (200) to have an
  India-Mark II hand pump
• Set up pump committees, hygiene groups and train
  local mechanics
• World Vision stocks spare parts in their regional
  office
• pump was chosen by the funding/donor agency
  Technological Determinism at its finest.

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So What?
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Critique of Current Water Supply Development
Approach

• Improvement upon old approach, but
• NO CHOICE for local communities
• Financial contribution water-scarcity, not
  approval of the type of technology
• Spare parts stay with NGO no local
  capacity-building

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Hand Pumps Focal Point of Rural Water Supply?

• Drawbacks
• Poor historical record
• Band-aid / Full-blown surgery
• Low flow rates - it would require 10 properly
  functioning hand pumps to meet household demands
  in Yadianga
• Where are they appropriate?
• Small villages (population lt 400)
• Villages with a sufficient number of wells
• Emergency or relief situations

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Discussion and Conclusions
So what?

• Hand pump sustainability is low
• Preferences vary widely depending on user
• Livestock play an important role (wells)
• Women have limited power in determining household
  water source
• Community involvement needed in Design and
  Planning

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How can we Improve?Real Community Involvement
photo Tammo Steenhuis
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Community Involvement and Institutional
Flexibility

• Incorporate community values by including the
  communities in Design and Planning phases
• Financial tradeoffs (real costs of water)
• Real exchange of information ? informed choice
• Donor and implementing agencies must remain
  flexible
• Use local infrastructure DNHE, spare parts
  distributors, etc

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Conclusions

• Real community involvement
• (women and herders)
• Offer options real CHOICE
• Institutional flexibility is important to ensure
  a complete array of options is offered (how can
  this come to be???)

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• Where livestock are numerous, large-diameter
  wells must be considered an essential element of
  rural water supply
• If Quantity is provided, supporting agencies can
  do a lot to improve Hygiene practice

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Thank you