Redefining rural water system financing: alternatives to water fees (2016)

Undergraduates: Nikki Behnke, Emma Kelly, Kristen Lee Tori Klug, Ryan Cronk Kate Shields, Jamie Bartram Nikki Behnke

Faculty Advisor: Jamie Bartram
Department: Peace, War & Defense

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Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) interventions in sub-Saharan Africa often involve implementing a community management model in order to promote participation and ownership. In order for this model to be sustainable, water committees must have the ability to finance the operation and maintenance, repair, and/or upgrade of their water systems. While some water committees implement a tariff or water fee, other options are available, although there is limited evidence on non-monetary and non-tariff fundraising mechanisms. Through interviews and focus group discussions with water committees and community members in rural communities in Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia, we identified four alternatives to water fees for community-managed water systems: non-monetary tariffs, exchanges with external actors, collaboration among community institutions, and mobilization of community labor. Our results suggest a number of factors contribute to communities¿¿¿ decisions about which mechanism to adopt, including seasonality, community economic characteristics such as poverty levels and non-cash economies, and existing community institutions, including savings groups. Our research offers a new perspective on how to implement WaSH interventions, suggesting that external support agencies should adapt their financial training for water committees to be more inclusive of these alternative options for resource mobilization.