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ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNITY-OWNED WATER SUPPLY
ORGANIZATIONS (COWSOs) STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF
RURAL WATER SUPPLY IN DODOMA REGION
EPHRAIM MWENDAMSEKE
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN NATURAL
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
NOVEMBER, 2016
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Assessment of Community-Owned Water Supply Organizations (COWSOs) Strategy
for Sustainability of Rural Water Supply in Dodoma Region
EPHRAIM MWENDAMSEKE
A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the
Master of Science in Natural Resources Management of the University Of Dodoma
University of Dodoma
November, 2016
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CERTIFICATION
The Undersigned certifies that she has read and hereby recommends for acceptance
by the University of Dodoma a dissertation entitle “Assessment of community-
owned water supply organizations strategy for sustainability of rural water
supply in Dodoma region” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Master of Science in Natural Resources Management of the University of
Dodoma.
…………………………………………………………….
Dr. Mikova Kseniia
(SUPERVISOR)
Date……………………………………………………..
iv
DECLARATION
AND
COPYRIGHT
I, Ephraim Mwendamseke, declare that this dissertation is my own original work and
that it will not be presented to any other University for a similar or any other degree
award.
Signature…………………….
No part of this dissertation may be reproduced stored in any retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the author or the
University of Dodoma.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First, I would like to thank the almighty God the heavenly father because I believe
his love and grace raised me to accomplish this work. I have been assisted by many
people and organizations for the completion of this study. I would like to express my
appreciation to all those who extended their kind assistance and cooperation.
This research would not have been possible from the beginning without the
enthusiasm, motivation and support from Lay Volunteer International Association
(LVIA – Tanzania). I would like to express my appreciation to Luca Traini (The
country representative), Mr. Chamgeni (The social promoter), Alberto Fierro and
Elina Nelaj (volunteers from University of Turin). Last not least the staff members at
LVIA – Tanzania for providing me with the required support to carry out this
research.
My heartfelt gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Mikova Kseniia for her unreserved
support, encouragement, constructive scholarly comments and assistance; I will
never forget your kindness and great heart, may God bless you.
I am greatly honoured to thank also the people who extended their assistance which
made it possible for me to complete my education at University of Dodoma. These
are particularly Dr. Enock Makupa, Professor Abiud Kaswamila, Dr. Ahmad
Kanyama, Professor Nyahongo and all others from the University of Dodoma.
Without their guidance, kindness, and assistance from the beginning of class, this
thesis would not be realized.
I would like to thank my parents not only for their unconditional support, guidance,
and love, but also for all what they have done for me throughout my life.
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Finally, I would like to recognize the contribution of my friends, Mr. Adili Myovela,
Mr. Aloyce Oyari, Mr.Nuru Nyalusi and Mr.Wodric Philemon, Your generosity and
kindness are greatly appreciated; I hope that someday I will be able to return some if
not all of your the favours.
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DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my lovely family, My Parents Mr. Benson Mwendamseke,
Neema Magehema. My hilarious young sisters, Stella and Happiness. May The Lord
God bless you a million ways and have long life. I have nothing but love for you.
viii
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted in Dodoma region covering seven districts. The study area
is among the central regions which are dry without alternative source of clean water
from the surface. Rural communities in study area are less capable of achieving
economies of scale to raise income needed for drilling independent boreholes. The
situation creates the urgency of finding the effective management system for
ensuring sustainability of rural water projects.
The aim of the study was to assess rural water supply management system in
Dodoma region; the main focus was to measure the efficacy of the newly promoted
strategy of Community – Owned Water Supply Organizations (COWSOs).
Specifically, the objectives of the study were to achieve a deep understanding about
districts implementation of the strategy after being delegated authorities from the
Ministry of Water, examining on how the new management system may complement
with existing systems of private operators (POs) and Village water committees
(VWC).
The study found that the registration process of COWSOs at the districts is
undesirably low. Many rural water projects were still under Village water
committees by 56% and private operators (28%) while the COWSOs were managing
only 15% of water projects. Many districts highlighted that the major challenge was
lack of fund to support the program implementation. To improve the strategy
performance is recommended that the Government should intensify the investment
by disbursing enough funds and resources for the programme execution.
Key words: COWSO, rural, water management, monitoring, private operators,
Village water committee
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION ........................................................................................................ i
DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ....................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................... v
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ ix
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... xii
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................... xiv
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................. xv
CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Background Information ........................................................................................ 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 4
1.3. Objectives of the Research .................................................................................... 5
1.3.1 General Objective ............................................................................................... 5
1.3.2 Specific objectives .............................................................................................. 5
1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................................ 6
1.5 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................... 6
1.6 Scope of the Study ................................................................................................. 7
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................ 8
2. 0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Definition of Key Terms ........................................................................................ 8
2.2 Theoretical Literature Review ............................................................................... 9
2.2.1 Game Theory for Rural Water Management .................................................... 10
2.2.2 Water Supply Reliability Theory ...................................................................... 11
2.3 Empirical Literature Review ................................................................................ 13
2.3.1 Situational Analysis of Rural Water Supply Management in the World .......... 13
2.3.2 Rural water supply and International Millennium Development Goals ........... 22
2.3.3 Policy, Legal and Institution Framework of rural water supply in Tanzania ... 25
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2.4 Knowledge Gap ................................................................................................... 29
2.5 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................ 30
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................................... 32
3.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 33
3.1 Description of the Study Area .............................................................................. 33
3.1.1 Geographical location ....................................................................................... 33
3.1.2. Population ........................................................................................................ 33
3.1.3. Climate ............................................................................................................. 34
3.2 Selection of the Study Area ................................................................................. 35
3.3 Research Strategy ................................................................................................. 35
3.4 Research Design ................................................................................................... 36
3.5 Target Population ................................................................................................. 36
3.6 The Sources of Data ............................................................................................. 37
3.7 Sampling Techniques ........................................................................................... 37
3.7.1 Sampling Approach .......................................................................................... 38
3.7.2 Sample Size ....................................................................................................... 38
3.8 Methods of Data Collection ................................................................................. 39
3.8.1 Questionnaire survey......................................................................................... 39
3.8.2 Key Informant Interview ................................................................................... 40
3.8.3 Focus Group Discussion ................................................................................... 40
3.8.4 Documentary Review ........................................................................................ 40
3.9 Tools for Data Collection ..................................................................................... 41
3.10 Data Analysis and Presentation Techniques ...................................................... 42
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSION ................................ 42
4.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 44
4.1 Profile of the target population ............................................................................ 44
4.1.1 Age Group of the Respondents ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.2 Sex of the Respondents ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.3 Education Level of Respondents....................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2 Implementation of COWSOs Strategy at District Level ...................................... 44
4.2.1 Status of Water Projects and Management Systems in Dodoma Region ......... 46
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4.2.2 Establishment and Registration Processes ........................................................ 49
4.2.3 Resources for Strategy Implementation at the Districts ................................... 54
4.2.4 Status of COWSO Establishment and Registration at Regional level .............. 59
4.2.5 Types of COWSO found within the region ...................................................... 61
4.2.6 Challenges for Establishment and Registration of COWSOs ........................... 62
4.3 Private Sector Involvement in Rural Water Supplies System.............................. 64
4.3.1 Involvement of the District Councils in the Contracting Private Sectors ......... 65
4.3.2 Status of Private Operator’s Involvement in Dodoma Region ......................... 67
4.3.3 Role of Private Operators in Rural Water Supplies .......................................... 68
4.3.4 Opportunities of Private Sector Involvement in COWSO System ................... 69
4.3.5 Obstacles of Private Operators’ Involvement ................................................... 71
4.4 Monitoring System of Rural Water Projects ........................................................ 71
4.4.1 Status of Monitoring and Supervision of Water Schemes ................................ 72
4.4.2 Types of Monitoring and Supervision Practices ............................................... 73
4.4.3 District Support to Water Projects .................................................................... 74
4.4.4 Communication and Information Sharing among Stakeholders ....................... 75
4.4.5 Indicators for tracking projects performance .................................................... 76
4.4.6 Challenges of Monitoring and Supervision of the Rural Water Projects .......... 79
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................. 79
5.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 80
5.1 Summary of Results ............................................................................................. 80
5.1.1 Implementation of COWSOs Strategy at District Level ................................... 80
5.1.2 Private Sectors Involvement in Rural Water Supply ........................................ 82
5.1.3 Monitoring and Supervision of Rural Water Supply Projects .......................... 83
5.2 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 84
5.2 Recommendations ................................................................................................ 85
5.2.1 COWSO Strategy Implementation ................................................................... 86
5.2.2 Private Operators’ Involvement in Rural Water Management System............. 87
5.2.3 Monitoring System of Rural Water Supply Projects ........................................ 87
5.3 Areas for Future Research.................................................................................... 89
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 91
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 95
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4: Total Number of Water Schemes and their Corresponding Management
Entities…………………………………………………………………………. 47
Table 5: Availability of Guideline Documents at District Water Department……... 57
Table 6: Types of COWSOs Available in Districts………………………………… 62
Table 7: Challenges for Effective COWSOs Establishment and Registration……... 63
Table 8: Recommendation of Districts Representatives on how Private Sector can be
involved in more Profitable way………………………………………………. 70
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Conceptual framework of the study…………………………………….. 32
Figure 2: Location of Tanzania in Africa , Location of Dodoma Region in Tanzani34
Figure 3: COWSOs budget out of the Water Department's Budget in Districts for
2014/2015……………………………………………………………………. 55
Figure 4: Average time for COWSO Establishment and Registration in each
District…………………………………………………………………………59
Figure 5:Percentage of Registered and Unregistered COWSOs in the Dodoma
Region…………………………………………………………………………..60
Figure 6: Water departments Involved in Selection of Private Operators..…………67
Figure 7: The Availability of Monitoring plan and Monitoring Budget at Regional
level…………………………………………………………………………….73
Figure 8: Support provided by the Districts to Water Schemes………..……………75
Figure 9: Indicators of well managed and Performing Water Scheme……...………78
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Key informant questionnaire
Appendix 2: Interview guide for Key informant
Appendix 3: Focus Group Discussion guide
Appendix 4: Research permits
xv
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
BRN -Big Results Now
COWSOs -Community – Owned Water Supply Organizations
CWST -Council Water and Sanitation Team
DCDO - District Community Development Office
DED -District Executive Director
DEO - District Education Office
DTO -District Treasury Office
DPLO -District Planning Office
DWE -District Water Engineer
DWO -District Water Office
DHO - District Health Office
DHS -Demographic and Health Survey
FGD -Focus Group Discussion
IWRM -Integrated Water Resources Management
LGAs -Local Government Authorities
LVIA -Lay Volunteer International Associations
MDG -Millennium Development Goal
MoW Ministry of Water
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NAWAPO -National Water Policy
NGOs -Non Governmental Organizations
NSGRP -National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty
NRWSS -National Rural water Sustainability Strategy
O&M -Operation and Maintenance
PPP -Public- Private Partnership
POM -Programme Operational Manual
PIM -Programme Implementation Manual
POs -Private Operators
PS -Private Sector
RWSM -Rural Water Supply Management
SPSS -Statistical Package for Social Sciences
TASAF -Tanzania Social Action Fund
TLTPP -Tanzania Long Term Perspective Plan
UN -United Nations
UNICEF -United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
UNDP -United Nations Development Programme
URT -United Republic of Tanzania
VG -Village Government
VWC -Village Water Committee
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WARMA -Water Resources Management Act
WCA -Water Consumer Association
WHO -World Health Organization
WSSA -Water Supply and Sanitation Authority
WPs -Water Points
WSP -Water and Sanitation Programme
WSDP -Water Sector Development Programme
WSSAs -Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities
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CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
The section describes the general introduction of the study. It begins with nutshell
background information of rural water supply sector in the World. The part also
highlights statement of the problem and objectives of the study. Significance of the
study as well as the scope of the research is correspondingly underlined in this part.
1.1 Background Information
Water is a resource that sustains all life on earth and is a key element of sustainable
development. Therefore, it is essential for human beings to have accessibility to
clean and safe water so as to enjoy healthy and safe lives or realize social and
economic development. Reflecting the importance of sound water management in the
promotion of sustainable development, international and regional conferences
highlight water issues as a priority area for achieving sustainable development
(Kataoka, 2002; Nkambule & Peter, 2012).
Unpromisingly, water supply in rural parts of the developing world is still neither
universal nor sustainable for the present population and future generation. Water
supply systems serving rural communities are mostly not operational due to
breakdown or because they are eventually abandoned (Nkambule & Peter, 2012).
However, population growth and economic expansions over the past few decades
accelerated and intensified the use and abuse of water resources. This resulted to a
greater imbalance between water availability and water demand. Lack of universal
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access to water and sanitation results to over a million preventable deaths each year
because of water related diseases (Montgomery et al,. 2009).
Much effort and progress has been made by international organizations and donor
agents to expand water supply services around the globe. For instance, in World
Bank client countries, access to improved water sources has increased to 87.5% in
2012 from 70.9% in 1990. Nevertheless, 768 million people worldwide are still
without access to improved water sources. However, even people who have access to
water supply and sanitation services often still have to cope with poor service
provided (World Bank, 2012a).
Likewise, the United Nations has long been putting some efforts in addressing the
global crisis caused by insufficient water supply to satisfy basics of the growing
demands to meet human, commercial and agricultural needs. The UN has been
emphasizing the importance of proper rural water supplies on aspects of human
health, development and well-being to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). UN advocated that every target of the MDGs depends, firstly, on the
achievement of proper water supply and sanitation services, for instance, eradicating
extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting
gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving
maternal health; combating HIV, AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and ensuring
environmental sustainability (UN, 2010).
Developing countries of southern Asia, Latin America and sub Saharan Africa are
the mostly affected region (Nkambule & Peter, 2012). Statistically, a survey
conducted in 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, shows the reality of
unsustainability of water projects in rural areas of the continents. The percentage of
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functioning water systems in rural areas ranged from 35% – 80%. A study in South
Africa documented that as many as 70% of the boreholes in the Eastern Cape were
not functional (Nkambule & Peter, 2012). Likewise, in Tanzania, according to water
point Mapping surveys conducted by the Water aid in 51 districts, has been clearly
shown the true extent of the sustainability problems facing rural water supplies.
Nearly half (46%) of public water points (WPs) were found to be non-functional.
Also quarter (25%) of two years old WPs were found non-functional (Water Aid,
2009; LVIA, 2013).
Such sustainability failure has been attributed by the top-down traditional
management approach of Governments to rural water supply, which is mostly done
by focusing on designing and constructing water facilities based on prescribed needs
rather than sustainable development and services (Nkambule & Peter, 2012; Sara
&Travis, 2008). Lack of community participation in management has also been
identified as the main factor responsible for the failure of the water schemes in most
developing countries (Harvey & Reed, 2007).
Community participation and Public- Private Partnership (PPP) in water supplies
systems has become the major approach for managing water supply systems in rural
areas worldwide. It was an answer to the large-scale break down of water supply
systems in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then it has been applied worldwide in
different forms and using different methods (Mohamed, 2004; World Bank, 2012a).
It has also been noted that not only community participation in some parts of
developing countries has been able to solve the problem of unsustainable water
services. Other reasons given for the low levels of sustainability includes: poor
financial ability, improper monitoring and evaluation systems, low technical support
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and institutional incapacities and other including those related to community issues
such as limited demand, lack of affordability or acceptability, ownership and limited
community management structures (Nkambule &Peter, 2012).
The government of Tanzania adhered to the community participation approach, and
decided to decentralize the rural water supply and management to the communities,
as well as making and COWSOs responsible legal entities. The districts have given a
directive for implementing COWSO strategies by registering organizations,
monitoring and supervising them (URT, 2015). The effort to improve management
system for rural water supply is very crucial, otherwise, the situation will jeopardise
targets of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (UN, 2010).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Statistically, 14 million people in Tanzania do not have access to safe water. Women
and children spend on average, over two hours a day collecting water and up to seven
hours in remote areas. The circumstances have wide impacts on education,
livelihoods and wellbeing at large (Water Aid, 2015). Water shortage leads to poor
sanitation, lack of safe drinking water and overcrowding at water sources. In
Tanzania, 12.1% of the total deaths that occurred in 2004 were due to water related
diseases like cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea (Water Aid, 2009). The situation creates
the urgency of finding the effective management system for ensuring sustainability
of rural water projects to meet the growing demand.
Despite the efforts of the government to improve rural water supply management
(RWSM) through community participation approach (COWSO system), the
implementation of the strategy at district level is still doubtable. Initially, the pace of
establishment and registration of COWSO to manage water schemes is still low, and
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no study has been conducted to examine the situation since ministry delegated
authorities to the districts. Hence the study aimed at assessing the efficacy of the
newly promoted strategy of COWSOs at the districts after devolution of authorities
from the Ministry of Water to Local Government Authorities (LGAs). Specifically,
the objectives of the study were to highlight the districts procedures for registering
COWSO, monitoring management entities and how the new management system
may complement the existing management systems of private operators (POs) and
Village water committees (VWC)
1.3. Objectives of the Research
1.3.1 General Objective
The general objective of the study was to investigate the COWSOs strategy for
sustainability of rural water supply in Dodoma Region
1.3.2 Specific objectives
The following were the specific objectives for the study:
i. To examine the process of COWSOs establishment and registration at district
level.
ii. To explore the obstacles and opportunities of private operators’ involvement in
water supply initiatives.
iii. To examine monitoring and management practices at district level.
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1.4 Research Questions
i. What are the procedures for establishment and registration of COWSOs at the
district level?
ii. What are the obstacles and opportunities of private operators’ involvement in
water supply initiatives
iii. What types of monitoring and supervision are provided by districts to water
projects?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The research is part of the overall action of Government and other water actors
aimed at finding ways to improve water management system in rural areas. The
research highlighted the rural water supply management system in Dodoma region as
well seeking to assess rural water supply management system in Dodoma region. The
main focus was on assessing the efficacy of the newly promoted strategy of
COWSOs in order to achieve a deep understanding on how districts implement the
strategy after being delegated authorities from the Ministry of Water. Specifically,
the objectives of the study were to highlight the districts procedures for registering
and monitoring COWSOs and how the new management system may complement
with existing management systems of private operators (POs) and Village water
committees (VWC).
The study recommends the possible solutions to either improve or suggest the more
efficiency management practices for water schemes that can help to address future
improvements of rural water supply sector. Also information and references from the
study are very crucial for proper planning and designing appropriate strategies and
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policies to solve the existing problems facing rural water supply with suitable
alternatives.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The research was conducted in Dodoma region, involving the seven Districts: Bahi,
Kondoa, Mpwapwa, Kongwa, Chamwino, Chemba and Dodoma. The research
assessed the management system of rural water supply by highlighting the
implementation of COWSOs system at district level and how the existing
management system may compliment with the new strategy. The study interviewed
experts of rural water supply management at district level to assess the situational
analysis of implementing COWSOs strategy for sustainability of rural water supply.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
This chapter attempts to describe a wide range of literature and ideas related to the
study. This is done through review of books, policies, acts, strategies, journals,
internet sources as well as articles. The section begins with definition of key terms
used, theoretical literature review, empirical literature review, research gap and
conceptual framework.
2.1 Definition of Key Terms
Community-Owned Water Supply Organizations (COWSOs) are bodies legally
constituted by the communities to own, manage, operate and maintain water supply
and sanitation systems on behalf of all beneficiaries. They are rural-based
organizations established under the Tanzanian’s Water Supply and Sanitation Act of
2009. The strategy of COWSOs is implemented at the district level and the main
roles of COWSOs are to ensure good monitoring and supervision of water schemes
for sustainable rural water supply and management in rural areas (URT, 2015).
Private operators (POs) these are the individuals or private companies/agents who
run and manage the water scheme as an alternative to traditional community
management. Private operators are mostly used to manage domestic water supplies
serving dispersed populations or very small settlements in rural areas, under active
contract with local water supply authorities. The system is common in places where
9
the existing traditional management has failed to run the water schemes in
sustainable or proper manner (Kleemeier, 2010).
Public- Private Partnership (PPP) is conceptually the collaboration between public
and private sector organizations in public service delivery. PPP is therefore a
cooperative venture built between public sector and private sector entities whereby
the private entities provide services to the public on behalf of the responsible
government entity (URT, 2009b). Private sectors can be in form Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and formal sectors
or informal sectors.
Water management entity is an organized group, individuals, committee,
companies, Councils or trusts established under the Act to manage water facilities on
behalf of all beneficiaries. Management entities that are predominantly managing
water facilities in Tanzania are Village Water Committee (VWC), private operators
(POs) and COWSOs (URT, 2015).
Monitoring, according to the National Rural Water sustainability Strategy (URT,
2015), monitoring is referred as a tool that measures progress of activities during
implementation. Monitoring aims at identifying activities which have been carried
out in terms of quality and quantity at a particular time frame. It identifies specific
problems and aspects that need modification to enable managers to facilitate
resources, trainings and supervision (URT, 2015).
2.2 Theoretical Literature Review
The purpose of this part was to examine the corpus of theories that has accumulated
regarding an issue, concept or phenomena of the presented study. The theoretical
10
literature reviews the existing theories that have been investigated and relate to the
present study, so that they can help to develop new ideas or hypotheses to be tested.
2.2.1 Game Theory for Rural Water Management
Game theory is a method that originated from the mathematical sciences which is
used in competitive or cooperative position to find optimal choices that will lead to
desired outcome between two parties (players). Game theory is mainly used
in economics, political science, sociology, and management sciences. The approach
can be used to anticipate the best result and provide efficient framework in decision
making about the prevailing problems to achieve a win-win situation between two
sides that are regarded as the players. In every game, at least two players will be
involved. This especially applies to above mentioned fields (Barougha et al., 2012).
Game theory can be used as a decision tool in rural water management. It can
involve different stakeholders in environmental, political, economic and social
aspects. Diversity of stakeholders in the sector may lead to misunderstandings and
conflicts between parties. In order to have a consensus decisions, each part must play
a game to reach an agreement without compromising the chance of another part in
performing its duties (Maria et al., 2015)
The rural water sector includes different players which include local government
authorities, COWSOs, private operators and water consumers. These stakeholders
can use the Game theory to obtain the equilibrium point of the system as the outcome
of interaction among them. For instance when COWSOs are signing contracts with
private operators, they can form agreements with mutual benefits while providing
good services to the community. Also water consumer and management entity can
agree on the price of water per bucket, the price that will be feasible for both sides.
11
The theory was used in analyzing the outcome of the research and in recommending
the useful decision-making tool for both stakeholders and administrative authorities
for optimal water resources supply to ensure operation and maintenance for service
sustainability.
2.2.2 Water Supply Reliability Theory
The water supply reliability theory was outlined by Damelin et al., (1972) They
developed computer simulation model that was used to evaluate reliability for
specific water supply systems. The theory defined the reliability factors in terms of
shortage in annual deliverance volumes, because the system sometimes can be
subjected to random failure of pumping equipment. Reliability of water supply can
also be defined as the probability that a given sustainable water supply will be
achieved through adding facilities, storage, pumping capacity, pipelines to increase
the coverage and meet the demand of consumers per unit time (Damelin et al., 1972).
This means that water supply system is the long designed structure that operates from
taking water from the sources, treats, stores, conveys and distributes it to consumers
who are spread over an area with changing demands over time. The reliability of this
system can be affected by various factors which include the availability of water in
the sources, water quality, and performance of system facilities and the random
nature of the demands (Damelin et al., 1972).
2.2.2.1 Measures of Water Supply Reliability
According to Damelin et al., (1972) the highlighted possible performance indices for
reliability of water supply are:
Fraction of the water demand which is supplied, computed over a specified
period of the time, such as a day, a month or a year.
12
Fraction of the consumers which are connected to the sources and has some
supply (even if less than demanded).
Number of failure events per unit time (e.g. one year).
Number of failures per unit time which are longer than some minimum.
Magnitude of the largest shortfall during the unit time.
The number of customers who have at least one failure event, greater than
some value, once or more during the time period.
2.2.2.2 Sources of Uncertainty which Affect Water Supply Reliability
A supply system contains sources, treatment plant, storage reservoirs, pumping
station, transmission and distribution pipes. Reliability of water supply can be
measured by performance indices depending on single or combined random events,
some of which are:
The amount of water in the sources (stored plus inflow) is insufficient.
The quality of water in the sources is too low to be treated adequately by the
treatment plants.
Failure of the part or the whole treatment plant.
Failure of pumps.
Failure of pipes.
Failure of the power supply to pumps.
Increasing demands beyond what is expected, and beyond that can be
supplied by the system including the storage.
2.2.2.3 Application of the Theory in Management of Rural Water Supply
The objective of the study included particularly assessing particular the monitoring
and supervision of the schemes performance. Covering this objective, the research
13
probed the indicators that districts were using to identify and compare well-managed
and performing water projects.
The indicators can be used as a monitoring tool for tracing the trend of scheme
development and performance. Likewise the organizations can use the theory to
identify the measures that can help to improve rural water supply. For instance
according to Damelin et al., (1972) measures to improve water supply reliability are
as follows:
Additional production capacity of the sources i.e. wells, pumping stations at
surface sources, water treatment plants;
Standby pumping capacity at well or pumping station;
Additional water storage;
Increase conveyance capacity of the transmission lines from the sources;
Add pipe lines in the distribution system;
Improvement and maintenance of pumps, pipes and other components;
The analysis of study integrated disciplines of water supply reliability with responses
of the population. This was helpful to relate the indicators highlighted by respondents
with the suggestions of the theory. The recommendation provided by the study about
developing the monitoring tool for tacking schemes performance, is the inherent idea
borrowed from this theory.
2.3 Empirical Literature Review
2.3.1 Situational Analysis of Rural Water Supply Management in the World
Worldwide, 80 percent of the people who have limited access to drinking
water supplies, live in rural areas (UN, 2010). According to the Millennium
14
Development Goal (MDG) Report (2010), the target was to reduce by half the
proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation by 2015. Yet, rural areas in developing countries across the world remain
severely disadvantaged with eight out of ten people not having access to an improved
water supply (UN, 2010). This is associated with 80% of all sickness and disease
worldwide through inadequate sanitation, polluted water or unavailability of water
and at any given moment. It has been estimated that half the world’s hospital beds
are occupied with patients suffering from water-related diseases (UN, 2010).
Although, the international communities has made advancements toward this goal
over the past decade, but the progress in rural areas is still lagging relative to urban
areas. Provision of safe water supply and improved sanitation to the rural areas has
formed a major challenge to the national governments in the world and more
particularly in the developing areas. The main challenge addressed is sustainability
of water projects to meet the growing demands of population. The way forward
advocated by majority is to have appropriate policies and building appropriate
management institutions besides of building new infrastructure without safeguarding
existing one (Water aid, 2009; Rout, 2010).
Proper management of water resources is becoming very important as the world
faces water crises which could hold back human development. The policy of
Community-based management remains the dominant approach for sustainability of
rural water supplies in Africa, Asia and Latin America, although private sector
provision is growing also important, especially in hand pumps, piped schemes
serving small towns and water treatment kiosks that have emerged over the last
decade in India (RWSN, 2015).
15
The problem of rural supply is intense in developing countries of Africa, Asia and
Latin America. But Africa is lagging behind of all because the proportion of the
African population who had access to safe drinking water, accounted for only 60%
by 2010, which is about 11% increase compared to other continents since 1990
(WHO & UNICEF, 2010).
2.3.1.1 Overview of Rural Water Supply in Latin America and the Caribbean
The rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean exceeds 120 million of
which, approximately 20 percent lack access to improved water services. Access to
water and sanitation services remain insufficient, particularly in rural areas and for
the poor. It also differs substantially among and within countries. According to the
Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health Organization and UNICEF in
2004, the share of population which was connected to an improved water
source varied from 54% in Haiti to 100% in Uruguay (WHO & UNICEF, 2010).
The main challenges hindering the increasing access to water in Latin America
includes poor financial health of service providers and fiscal constraints on behalf of
central and local governments. For instance, the study conducted in Bolivia and Peru
by the World Bank shows that, for the population that has access to the water supply,
they are not financially sustainable in the medium term and therefore require
additional capital to replace the current infrastructure to expand coverage (World
Bank, 2012b).
For sustainable water services in Latin America, the community organizations are
entrusted to provide water and sanitation services in rural areas, but are often
underestimated and neglected. Responsibility can be assigned to a government
Ministry and its regional branches, a Social Fund or municipalities. Often,
16
NGOs also carry out this function, either on their own initiative and with their own
resources, or under contract by the government. In Honduras for example support to
community organizations (Juntas de Agua) is assigned to the Social Fund, in
cooperation with the national agency for technical assistance in water and sanitation
issues (RWSN, 2015).
In El Salvador it is done by the Social Funds and various NGOs as well. In Peru, it is
carried out through NGOs and municipalities with the support of a national
programme implemented by the Ministry of Housing. In Paraguay it is the
responsibility of the national agency in charge of promoting specifically water supply
and sanitation in rural areas and small towns. In Ecuador it is carried out under the
national programme by consultants working for the Ministry of Housing. In Panama
such support is provided by the Ministry of Health. In Haiti such support is provided
by NGOs, some of which are under contract with the national urban water agency
and its specialized unit for rural areas. There is a wide variety of institutional
arrangements to support community organizations, so that one cannot speak of a
uniform model for such support in Latin America (RWSN, 2015).
2.3.1.2 Overview of Rural Water Supply in Southern and Eastern Asia
South Asia is another region experiencing challenges in providing access to safe,
sustainable water supply and sanitation. Although, the situation pertaining to
adequate supply of safe drinking water and improved sanitation has improved
significantly over the period of 1990-2004, owing to changes in the policy and
increased attention and funding in the water supply and sanitation sector; however,
still a substantial number of people remained un-served in this region. Over 1 billion
people in South Asia still lack access to improved sanitation and over 250 million
17
people lack access to improved water supplies (World Bank, 2012b). This is due to
population growth, excessive pressure on existing services, slow rate of introduction
of new services and lack of proper operation and maintenance of existing services
(WHO & UNICEF, 2010). The south Asian region stands second in the world with
respect to number of people without improved drinking water source followed by
Eastern Asia with 302 million people un-served.
Accordingly, the national governments in the South Asia region have responded to
the challenges with policy reforms to increase the proportion of people without
having access to these fundamental requirements. Countries like Bangladesh, India,
Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, have formulated policies and programmes aiming at
ensuring all the people with access to safe water and sanitation services at an
affordable cost. For instance in India, Policy reforms in drinking water sector in India
were adopted during April 1999 through Sector Reform Project, based on a paradigm
shift towards decentralization and people’s participation in provision of drinking
water services. To ensure people’s participation, the Sector Reform Project (SRP)
advocated three principles which are: 1) adoption of a demand responsive and
adaptable approach based on empowerment of villagers to ensure their full
participation in decision-making, 2) shifting role of government from direct service
delivery to that of planning, policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation and
partial financial support, and 3) partial capital cost sharing and full responsibility of
operation and maintenance by the users (Rout, 2010).
2.3.1.3 Overview of Rural Water supply in Sub Saharan Africa
In sub Saharan Africa, access to water supply and sanitation has been steadily
improving over the past two decades, but the region still lags behind compared to
18
other developing regions. Despite having a much lower population than Asia, Africa
accounts for almost one-third of the global population without access to improved
water supply, and has the lowest service coverage figures than the other continent. In
Africa, access to improved water supply has increased from 49% in 1990 to 60% in
2008 (WHO & UNESCO, 2010).
Water and sanitation services are highly needed in Africa; but the continent has many
challenges facing the components of establishing sustainability of water service.
Despite poor policy, management and institution problems, other problems include
poor community facilitation process which is hindered by expansive physical
distances and a lack of road and telecommunication infrastructure in rural areas;
little funding for monitoring and supervision; poor or no systematic documentation
of failed water projects, lack of financing for water services and cases of
misappropriation of water user fees also pose considerable challenges to local
financing and cost recovery (Montgomery et al., 2009).
For instance, Ethiopia achieved its Millennium Development Goal target of 57
percent access to safe drinking water, halving the number of people without access to
safe water since 1990. The driving force behind the expansion of access to safe
drinking water in Ethiopia was attributed to the incidence of drought and famine in
the 1970s and the 1980s. In response to this devastating situation, and adverse effects
associated with years of environmental crises, quite a lot of multi-lateral and bilateral
international NGOs, donor agencies and indigenous organizations have devoted
significant proportion of their fund for the provision of rural safe drinking water
supply and vigorously engaged in these endeavours (Tadesse et al., 2013).
19
Despite active mobilization of resources by international and local NGOs and the
Ethiopian government, the national safe drinking water coverage of the country has
not been improved since then especially in the rural areas. The main reasons for the
low level of performance in the supply of safe drinking water is attributed to lack of
articulate and holistic water policy and insufficient investment for safe drinking
water supply. Also the communities lack capability in managing the water supply
schemes (Tadesse et al., 2013).
For the case of Swaziland, the country has made significant progress towards
meeting the national targets of providing water and sanitation to the entire rural
population and was likely to achieve 100% coverage of both water supply and
sanitation by the year 2022. UNICEF and WHO (2008) also noted that coverage of
improved drinking water has increased to 60% national wise and 51% for rural. The
indicators from the studies showed that Swaziland was on right track and pace to
achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve the proportion of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
However, there was high percentage of unsustainable water projects and observed
malfunctioned water projects nationally. That depicts the use of the traditional
management system of top down by focusing on providing more water schemes
rather than the sustainable use of the existing water sources (UNICEF & WHO,
2008).
2.3.1.4 Overview of Rural Water Supply in Tanzania
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 2010 showed that access to clean and safe
water in rural areas of Tanzania is only 47.9% and only 43.2% of the population has
a safe water source in less than a kilometer (URT, 2010). Findings confirm that a
20
core reason for the low rate of coverage increase, despite investment, is the growing
number of non-functional water points (Water aid, 2009).
There are many inter-related challenges facing the achievement of desired service
level and overall sustainability of rural water supply services. A key one is
inadequate attention to operation and maintenance right from the planning and
design stages through to operation of projects. The second is inadequate
community participation in project implementation which leads to a low sense of
ownership of the projects. Other challenges include: the limited capacity of the
communities to operate and maintain the water supply systems; a poor supply chain
for operational and maintenance spare parts at the community level and
deterioration of the quantity and quality of water resources due to environmental
degradation (URT, 2015).
Likewise, the issues of environmental protection and conservation awareness
campaigns have been so limited. Communities are not much aware on THE
relationship between forest management and water resources. All these challenges
have considerably affected the level of service provided by the rural water
supply projects. This reality is depicted by the high number of non-functional
Water Points in rural water supply projects. As at the end of September, 2014 out of
74,000 water points, 28,000 were non-functional (URT, 2015).
To meet these challenges, the ministry has prepared the National Rural Water
Sustainability Strategy (NRWSS) with the primary goal to offer a framework for
sustainable rural water supply development. The strategy is a framework tool
for five years from January 2015-January 2020. The framework is an outcome
of Joint Water Sector Review Agreed Action and is intended to guide the sector
21
towards fulfillment of various National goals, like the Vision 2025, National
Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP), Five Year Development
Plan, Tanzania Long Term Perspective Plan – TLTPP and Water Sector
Development Programme Phase I and II (2006-2025), through sustainable rural
water supply services (URT, 2015).
The major purpose of the strategy is to provide a single source, overall
framework for the water and sanitation subsector in Tanzania that will guide
the implementation of the Sustainability programmes in rural water supply
Services. The framework provides a set of tools that can support water supply
sustainability mechanisms includes technical Support Services, COWSO formation
and registration, popularization of policies and sustainable operation and
maintenance (O&M) and appropriate governance and management regulations for
sustainable service delivery (URT, 2015).
The application of this strategy is a collaborative effort that will stimulate dialogue
and solution building among a range of sector stakeholders and external
partners for enabling environment for sustainable rural water supply services. The
Sustainability Strategy addresses the operation and maintenance challenges of
the sector in a single, overall framework supported by a series of action
plans. The strategy defines how, through effective operation and maintenance,
the water sector will achieve its objectives aiming at ensuring sustainable water
resources and services (URT, 2015).
The rationale of this Sustainability Strategy is to involve multiple stakeholders,
particularly those at district and community level in formulating and
implementing strategies that will contribute towards effective, efficient and
22
equitable rural water supply services. The Strategy enables policy coordination,
implementation and performance monitoring among different sector players. The
Ministry, through the Big Results Now initiative and the recently launched
Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building Component of WSDP (phase
II), is committed to continue to use the financial resources available to empower the
implementation of agencies at all levels to meet its commitments for sustainable
service delivery. According to NRWSS, the Big Results Now initiative in rural water
sector provides the framework for action where operation and maintenance
issues are focused on four key areas which are: financial sustainability through
effective tariff collection; establishment of Community Owned Water Supply
Organizations (COWSOs), technical capacity building and to improve the spare part
supply chain (URT, 2015).
2.3.2 Rural water supply and International Millennium Development Goals
Safe drinking water and basic sanitation are so obviously essential to health, survival,
growth and development. However, these basic necessities are still a luxury for many
of the world’s poor people in rural areas. Over 1.1 billion of citizens in the world do
not use drinking water from improved sources, while 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
The efforts to prevent death from diarrhoea or to reduce the burden of such diseases
as ascaris, dracunculiasis, hookworm, schistosomiasis and trachoma are doomed to
failure unless people have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Lack of
basic sanitation indirectly inhibits the learning abilities of millions of school-aged
children who are infested with intestinal worms transmitted through inadequate
sanitation facilities and poor hygiene (UNESCO, 2011).
23
Improved rural water supply and sanitation facilities can contribute to achieve
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (UN, 2010). According to UNESCO
(2011) the MDGs can be related to water supply as follows:
2.3.2.1 MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Rural people use water for crops production, fishing and aquaculture, livestock,
poultry and dairy. In rural communities, approximately 60% of the total labour force
in Africa works in agriculture, providing livelihoods for 90% of people in rural areas.
Therefore ensuring the sustainable water supply for agriculture will increase food
production to alleviate the world’s hunger. Water is essential to industry, to
economic development and to creating livelihoods for the poor. A reliable water
supply also helps poor households to augment their income through productive
domestic activities such as cultivating vegetable gardens or raising poultry. Without
water, agriculture, industry, energy production and all other economic activities
come to a halt. Having a sustainable, safe water supply and benefiting from its
economic opportunities can help break the vicious circle of poverty.
2.3.2.2 MDGs 2&3: Achieve Universal Primary Education, Promote Gender
Equality & Empowering Women
Providing safe water services and managing water resources wisely improves health
and opens opportunities for education and capacity-building for all. In many poor
communities, fetching water from distant sources and queuing for water are
physically-demanding and time-consuming responsibilities borne primarily by
women and girls. Women have less time to engage in other productive activities,
while for girls school attendance is often considered a lesser priority; a gender bias
that creates a huge imbalance in school enrolment ratios. Consequent disparities in
24
women’s education and involvement in decision-making can place them at a
significant disadvantage in earning an income or having a say in the affairs of their
community. A safe, secure water supply helps all children boys and girls to stay at
school and can enable women to participate more actively in their community.
2.3.2.3 MDGs 4&5&6: Reduce Child Mortality by two-thirds, Improve
Maternal Health and combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria & other Diseases
Human health depends on the quality of our immediate surroundings, in which water
and sanitation services and their management have a key role. Children are at risk
without safe water to drink, without adequate water to stay clean, and without access
to safe sanitation facilities. In such conditions, parents are often powerless to give
proper care to their children and are themselves vulnerable to diseases. Better water
quality and sanitation services and measures that help women reduce their physical
burdens, can improve expectant mothers’ health and contribute to safer pregnancies.
The provision of safe water for medical purposes also improves their safety and that
of their newborn during and after childbirth. Reliable, safe water and sanitation
services not only lower the incidence of many diseases but also increase children’s
and adults’ capacities to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Access to
safe water can help to keep HIV infected people healthy and productive. Safe water
and improved sanitation are central to health and well-being of people.
2.3.2.4 MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Water is key resource to our survival and that of other flora and fauna on our planet.
Integrated water resources management (IWRM) lets users balance water needs for
economic and social activities and ensure environmental sustainability. Adequate
treatment and disposal of wastewater contributes to better ecosystem conservation,
25
putting less pressure on scarce freshwater resources. IWRM is also pivotal to
reducing our vulnerability to climate change and variability. Good water
management and infrastructure is vital to bring adequate and sustainable supplies of
safe water and sanitation services to poorly serviced communities in rural and urban
areas, including slums. Better management of water resources at basin level and
consumption level lessens pollution and improves water conservation towards
ensuring sustainable, life-supporting ecosystems.
2.3.2.5 MDG 8: Develop a Global partnership for Development
Improving water resources management and water supply and sanitation services can
facilitate partnerships for global development. Cooperation in water resources
management, particularly for its sustainable use, is critical. Development agendas
and partnerships must recognize the fundamental roles of sustainable water-resources
management and the provision of safe drinking-water and basic sanitation in
economic and social development and in ensuring the future of life supporting
ecosystem services. Since water resource knows no political boundaries, it is urgency
of investing joint efforts to using it wisely.
2.3.3 Policy, Legal and Institution Framework of rural water supply in
Tanzania
2.3.3.1 Policy framework
Policy development for the water sector began with the first National Water Policy in
1991. The policy was the response after the failure of providing adequate water
supply and sanitation services despite the major investments done by the government
in the sector during the 1970s and 1980s. The National Water Policy was revised in
2002 (NAWAPO, 2002) thus introducing reform elements of devolution, poverty
26
alleviation and civil service reform. It was strongly influenced by national policy
instruments that address issues of poverty and economic development. Also
incorporate water sector reforms as one of several related components which, when
combined together, offer a multi-sector approach to poverty reduction and economic
growth (URT, 2006).
The National Water Policy (NAWAPO) emphasizes the role of various
stakeholders in sustaining rural water supply delivery. This includes the central
role of the communities who are the main beneficiaries in the process of the
planning, designing, implementing, operation, maintenance as well as revenue
collection. The private sectors are also encouraged to participate in the levels of
Project Cycle (URT, 2002).
The policy recognizes that the stakeholders involved in this approach can create
cohesiveness, strong team work, good relationships, communication and
accountability. That is possible when there are strong political will, dialogue
mechanisms with stakeholders, good leadership, and well capacitated professional
staffs at local government and national levels (URT, 2015). In order to achieve
sustainability of water projects in rural areas, policy highlights that communities
have to be involved in many ways. First, they should legally own the facilities and
participate in planning and management. Second, communities should be able to
choose the appropriate technology for water supply projects and they should also be
involved in designing and constructing the projects. Third, communities should
become fully responsible for operation and maintenance of the schemes (URT, 2002).
The Programme Operational Manual (URT, 2015) identifies the role of private
sectors in rural water management. Private operators are defined as the providers of
27
goods services, to support communities in conceiving, planning, designing,
constructing, maintaining and managing their water supply and sanitation facilities
(URT, 2005). The actors that are regarded as the private sector are: NGOs;
consultants; drillers; contractors; suppliers of pipes, pumps, and other materials;
private operators, agents, artisans and others with related roles (URT, 2005). The
government strategies are to shift the rural water service deliverance to the private
and independent entities whenever possible, thus leaving government departments
free to focus on programme facilitation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation and
overall policy formulation (URT, 2015). The government believes the contribution of
private sectors in service delivery will enhance effectiveness and enhance
development.
2.3.3.2 Legal Framework
The principal legislation for regulating water supply management in Tanzania is the
Water Supply and Sanitation Act No. 12 of 2009 which is responsible for regulating
the commercialized Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities (WSSAs), which are
predominantly in urban areas and COWSOs which are mainly for rural settings.
The Water Supply and Sanitation Act No. 12 of 2009 introduces Community Owner
Water Supply Organizations (COWSO) as the only legal management entities for
rural water schemes. This reveals the real effectiveness of the principle of the
community participation of NAWAPO in ensuring sustainability of water supply
services. According to the law, COWSOs are entities which have power to manage
the water systems and implement the ministry policy and strategy on water supply at
village level. The section 31 of the law clarifies that a COWSO can be in different
28
form like Water Consumer Associations (WCA), Cooperatives, and Board of
trustees, Non-Governmental Organisations or a company (URT, 2009a).
The identified role of COWSOs is as follows; managing, operating, and maintaining
the water scheme and the provision of safe water. Also they should make rules for the
use of public taps, install metres to measure the amount of water supplied, charge the
consumers for the water supplied and consult and cooperate with the village or any
other institution responsible for land (ibid).
2.3.3.3 Institution Framework
The institutional framework for water resources management has been
streamlined to meet the challenges of effective integrated water resources
management at basin level and water supply at consumer consumers level. With
respect to institutional framework for water resources management in Tanzania,
the role of the Ministry responsible for Water is to coordinate sector progress,
support capacity building, monitoring and quality assurance, policy formulation
and provision of guidelines and regulation through various legal instruments
(URT, 2014a).
For sustainable rural water supply, the Ministry is responsible for supporting LGAs
coordinating the strategies, assisting in providing technical and financial support for
the construction of water schemes. Also creating the conducive environment that
facilitates the participation of communities and private sector in development and
operation and maintenance of water supply services. Regional Secretariats are
responsible for providing guidance to LGAs and monitoring them. Local
Government Authorities (Districts and Wards) are accountable for coordinating and
monitoring the financial management of Water Authorities and COWSOs. LGAs are
29
also responsible for facilitating COWSOs establishment and registration. as well as
approving by-laws in water supply sector when needed (URT, 2009a).
2.4 Knowledge Gap
Community management of water supplies systems has become the major approach
for managing water projects in rural areas worldwide. In 2009, the government of
Tanzania under the Ministry of Water enacted the Water Supply and Sanitation Act
which identifies COWSOs as the legal entities to manage and monitor rural water
projects. After ineffective implementation at the Ministry level, responsibilities were
decentralized to the districts. The Ministry of Water has preparedF directives to help
districts implement the strategy at the local government level (districts).
However, the assessment of actual implementation of the strategy at the district level
is not well examined since devolution. Therefore the main focus of the study was to
look at the performance of the strategy after responsibilities were handed to the
district. Considering that, the study investigated the status of the implementation of
COWSO strategy at district level, monitoring and supervision practices provided by
the districts for sustainability of COWSOs and water services at large.
Furthermore, the research looked at the issue of involvement of private operators in
rural water supply management system (COWSO system). Many studies highlighted
problems of private operators, including the essence of being much profiteering
(exploitative), less transparent in revenue collection and expenditure (Kleemeier,
2010; Water aid, 2009; World Bank, 2012a). Considering that, the study assessed the
obstacles and opportunity of private operators in a new COWSOs system and what
should be done so that private operators can complement with the new strategy.
30
2.5 Conceptual Framework
A conceptual framework is a visual product used to explain and relate the concept or
variables studied. It explains the interrelations of concepts and provides the
comprehensive understanding of the presented phenomena (Ravitch & Riggan,
2012).
Generally, the concept of the study is based on the situation of rural water supplies in
Tanzania, whose status is not promising. According to NRWSS of 2015, the
national coverage of rural water supplies is 51% against the target of 71%.
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 2010 showed only 43.2% of the
population had a safe water source in less than a kilometre with the total of 14
million people in Tanzania who do not have access to safe and water.
The main challenge addressed is the issue of sustainability of water projects to meet
the demand of growing population. According to a study conducted in Tanzania,
nearly half (46%) of public water points (WPs) were found to be non-functional.
This results to inadequate rural water supplies for the communities to suffer social
and economic difficulties like poor sanitation, lack of safe drinking water, diseases,
death and decline of productivity.
To encounter the challenges, the Ministry of Water has prepared the National Rural
Water Sustainability Strategy (NRWSS) with the general framework to improve rural
water supplies system. The major purpose of the strategy is to provide a single
source, overall framework for the improvement of rural water sector through
managerial and supportive mechanisms which include: appropriate governance and
management regulations, community participation through COWSO formation and
registration, private sector (PS) participation, intensify monitoring and supervision,
31
technical support to water projects and sustainable operation and maintenance of
water schemes.
These mechanisms when integrated are believed to bring positive results in
improving rural water sector in aspects of efficient functionality of distribution
points, sustainability of water projects for present and future uses.
Below is the conceptual framework that shows relationship of variables of the study.
32
Figure 1: Conceptual framework of the study
Source: by Author (2016).
COWSO STRATEGY
Establishment and
registration of COWSOs.
Training COWSOs the
project management skills.
Monitoring and supervising
COWSOs activities.
PRIVATE SECTORS (PS)
Increase involvement of
PS when advantageous.
Support and facilitate the
participation of PS.
Promote PPP.
MONITORING STRATEGIES
Availability of Monitoring
tools, plan and funds.
Monitoring support to
water project.
Consolidate monitoring
reports of the scheme to
the ministry through
regions.
IMPROVED AND RELIABLE
WATER SUPPLY
Proper and efficient
functionality of water points.
Sustainability of water
projects.
Proper communication and
transparency within
stakeholders.
SITUATION OF RURAL WATER
SUPPLY IN TANZANIA
National coverage of rural water
supply is 51%.
14 million people in Tanzania do
not have access to safe water.
43.2% of population has a safe
water source in less than 1km.
Limited capacity of the
communities to manage water
facilities.
ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS
46% of non-functional distribution
points
Poor sanitation, lack of safe drinking
water.
Diseases (cholera, typhoid and
diarrhea).
12.1% of total death occurred in 2004.
Infant mortality (1/3 of 2009).
Fall of productivity.
GENERAL FRAMEWORK TO
IMPROVE RURAL WATER SUPPLY
Appropriate governance and
management regulations.
Community and private sector
(PS) participation.
Intensify monitoring and
supervision.
Technical support to water
projects.
Sustainable operations and
maintenance.
33
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
This chapter describes the research methods used in this study. The part begins by
highlighting the geographical description of the study area and justifications of the
selection. Also research strategy, research design and target population of the study
are well clarified in this segment. Similarly, the section explains about sampling
techniques, methods of collecting data and methods of its analysis.
3.1 Description of the Study Area
3.1.1 Geographical location
Dodoma Region is one of Tanzania's 30 administrative regions (Figure 2). It lies in
the eastern-central part of the country; the region is about 480 km from the coast.
Dodoma covers an area of 41,311 square kilometres. The region is bordered by
the Manyara region to the north, the Singida region to the west, the Iringa region to
the south, and the Morogoro region to the southeast. Dodoma region is found at the
Latitude: 6°10′19″ S, Longitude: 35°44′22″ E with elevation 1125m above sea level
(URT, 2013).
3.1.2. Population
According to census report of 2013, the population of Dodoma region is about
2,083,588 people, the number of households is about 453,844 with an average
household size of 4.6. The annual average population growth rate of Dodoma region
(2002-2012) is 2.7%. The majority of the population is Gogo, Rangi and Sandawe.
34
These ethnical groups, traditionally breed cows and goat, but actually their main
income activity is agriculture (URT, 2013).
Figure 2: (a) Location of Tanzania in Africa (b) Location of Dodoma Region in
Tanzania.
Source: a) http://www.mermaidray.com.au/blog/address-to-rotary-club-of-southport-
june-2015/ [site visited on 10/04/2016]; (b) http://ascensionnyc.org/2011/07/shaken-
to-my-core/. [site visited on 10/04/2016].
3.1.3. Climate
Dodoma region has semi-arid climate (dry savanna type) with one rainy season
which is characterized by a long dry season lasting between late April to early
December and a short single wet season during the remaining months. The region
receives around 570 mm of rain, about 85% of this, falls in four months between
a) Location of Tanzania in
Africa
b) Location of Dodoma Region in Tanzania
35
December and March. In Dodoma region, the temperature varies according to
altitude but generally the average maximum is 31°C and minimum is 18°C (URT,
2007).
3.2 Selection of the Study Area
The study was conducted in Dodoma region covering seven districts. The setting is
among the central regions with non-frequent rainfall because of semi-arid climate.
Particularly, the area is so dry with no alternative source of clean water from the
surface. The main source of clean and safe water is ground water aquifers which are
so deep into the ground more than 100 metres (URT, 2007).
Rural communities in study area are less capable of achieving economies of scale to
raise income needed for drilling boreholes. Also these rural communities’ lack
technical expertise needed to operate and maintain water systems. In rural arid areas
like Dodoma, the situation is much worse; communities suffer on hydrological
variability which can add to the financial and technical difficulties (URT, 2015). The
situation creates the urgency of finding the effective management system for
ensuring sustainability of existing projects and increase safe coverage in area.
Therefore the study aimed at achieving the deep understanding of the phenomenon
and recommends the possible solutions to either improve or suggest the more
efficiency management practices for sustainability of water projects.
3.3 Research Strategy
Research strategy is a generalized plan for a problem analysis in research. This
includes structure of the research, desired solution in terms of objectives of research
and an outline of planned devices necessary to implement the strategy. The research
36
strategy is a part of a larger development scheme of research’ approach (Singh,
2006). Research strategy can be quantitative, qualitative or combined. The study
used the combined research strategy; this is due to the nature of the phenomena. It
was crucial to acquire the qualitative and quantitative data of existing situation so as
to get the holistic view of rural water supply management system in Dodoma region.
3.4 Research Design
Research design states the conceptual structure within which research would be
conducted. The preparation of such a design facilitates research to be as efficient as
possible to yield maximal information with minimal expenditure of effort, time and
money (Kothari, 2009). Research design contains some methodologies that act as
coherent rules and procedures followed for investigating or conducting research. The
study employed the descriptive design. The design provides the room for the study to
explain events or define a set of attitudes, opinions, or behaviours that are observed
or measured at a given time and in an environment. Descriptive studies can be either
cross-sectional or longitudinal. Due to limited time for the study, cross- sectional
design was used. This is the type of design where by the analysis of data is done on
one specific point of time from the study population (Singh, 2006).
3.5 Target Population
Population or universe means the entire mass of observations which is the parent
group from which a sample is to be formed. The sample observations provide only an
estimate of the population characteristics. A research population is generally a large
collection of individuals or objects that is the main interests for a scientific query. It
is for the benefit of the target population that researches are done (Singh, 2006). In
this study target population was the experts of rural water supply management sector
37
in Dodoma region. The population was stratified into districts. The sample was
purposely taken from the Council Water and Sanitation Teams (CWSTs) which are
responsible organs which consisting of six departments at the district led by DED.
CWSTs are responsible for managing and supervising water and sanitation related
issues at the district level.
3.6 The Sources of Data
The study based on both primary data and secondary data. Primary data are data that
were collected directly from the respondents through questionnaires, interviews and
focus group discussions. Secondary were data obtained through reading various
written documents such as acts, policy, strategies, annual reports, journals, books,
pamphlets and researches report (Rwegoshora, 2006).
3.7 Sampling Techniques
Sampling techniques are plans that show systematic ways of choosing small portion
to study from the total population. In the social sciences, it is not possible to collect
data from every respondent relevant to the study but only from some fractional part
of the respondents. The process of selecting the fractional part from the entire
population is what is called sampling (Singh, 2006). The researcher must decide the
way of selecting a sample or what is popularly known as the sample design. In other
words, a sample design is a definite plan determined before any data are actually
collected for obtaining a sample from a given population.
38
3.7.1 Sampling Approach
Sampling procedures refer to the ways that are used to select the sample in the study
population. Sampling can be either random probability sampling or non-random
probability sampling (Kothari, 2009).
The sampling method used in the study was purposive sampling, which is kind of
non-random probability sampling. It is performed where by the researcher selects the
specific group to study, given that thus is what the study is interested on. Consider
that the aim of the study was to assess the strategy of COWSO at the district level;
the sample was taken purposely from the districts departments (CWSTs) and not
from scheme level or household level. This is due to the fact that districts experts are
responsible for COWSO strategy implementation and hence have experience on it.
While village government, households and other stakeholders of rural water supply
have no unbiased experience about establishment and registration of any water
entities and as well monitoring and management practices at district level. Village
government and communities at the scheme level hadn’t directly authorities of
implementing the strategy; they receive directives from the districts on how to
execute activities. Due to that the study purposely sampled seven districts from
sampling unit to represent all stakeholders of rural water supply in Dodoma Region.
3.7.2 Sample Size
Sample size is a portion or an element of the population to be studied to represent the
entire population. The size of sample depends on the number of factors like the size
of the population, purpose of the study, accessibility of the element as well as the
cost of obtaining elements (Rwegoshora, 2006).
39
Seven districts of Dodoma region were studied. Key informant questionnaire were
sent to each district and District water engineers (DWEs) were representatives of
district on answering the matters. Thereafter, the key informant interview was
arranged with DWEs and COWSOs registrar of each district (7 districts *2 = 14
members) to gather more information and get clarifications about the responses
provided from the questionnaire.
Focus group discussions (FGDs) were organized, with at least one representative
member from Council Water and Sanitation Team (CWST) of each district (7 FGD *
6 members= at most 42 respondents. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were helpful
to exhaust different views from other departments that were cooperating in
implementing the COWSO strategy in the district.
The total expected number of respondent for both key informant interview and focus
group discussion were 56 respondents. The sample was enough to extract useful
information to cover all objectives of study. This is due to fact that the respondents
were districts officials with professional education and working experience on the
sector of rural water supply.
3.8 Methods of Data Collection
Data collection methods are the techniques that allow systematic collection of
information about the study from the different sources (Rwegoshora, 2006).
3.8.1 Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire Survey is the method of data collection which involves the use of
questionnaire to extract information from respondents with particular knowledge and
understanding about the existing situation (Singh, 2006). It is effective method in
40
acquiring broad information from the single source. Questionnaire Survey of the key
informants was used to gather primary data from the respondents.
3.8.2 Key Informant Interview
The purpose of key informant interviews differs from key informant survey. In this
aspect, the information is collected through face to face conversation by meeting a
wide range of people including professionals who have first-hand knowledge about
the community. Key informant interviews are qualitative in depth interviews with
people who know what is real going on. These experts, with their particular
knowledge and understanding can provide insight on the nature of problems and give
recommendations for solutions (Babbie, 1998; sigh, 2006). Key informant interview
was conducted with DWEs and Registrar of COWSOs from the districts of Dodoma,
Chamwino, Bahi, Chemba, Mpwapwa, Kondoa and Kongwa,
3.8.3 Focus Group Discussion
Focus groups discussion (FGD) is formally organized discussion of structured groups
of individuals brought together to discuss a certain issue for the purpose of research
during a specific period of time. Focus group discussion can be an extremely useful
technique for obtaining individuals’ impressions and concerns about certain issues,
services, or products. They are much popular within the research in fields of market
research, political research and educational research (Dawson, 2002). Focus group
discussions were used to gather, discuss important issues and concerns of the study.
3.8.4 Documentary Review
Documentary review was executed through reading the existing literature that related
to the research objectives. This body of literatures includes policies, acts, strategies,
reports, researches, websites and articles from different journals. The documentary
41
review helped the researcher to come up with a strong research concept and to fill the
knowledge gaps.
3.9 Tools for Data Collection
Data collection tools are the techniques used to extract the information from the
source. (Singh, 2006). The research used questionnaire, interview guide and focus
discussion guide. These tools were used to obtain information to cover the presented
objectives.
3.9.1 Questionnaire
A questionnaire is series of inquires which is prepared and distributed for the purpose
of securing responses from the sample selected. Generally, these inquiries are factual
and designed for gathering information from recipients who are presumed to have
knowledge about the matter (Singh, 2006). Key informant questionnaires were
administered through emails which were sent to District Executive Directors (DEDs)
of the districts with a copy to the District Water departments. The aim of
questionnaire was to explore the existing statistics of the COWSO strategy
implementations, private operators’ involvement in the system, monitoring and
supervision of the rural water projects.
3.9.2 Interview Guide
Interviews are a more personalized form of data collection method than
questionnaires, and are conducted by trained interviewers using the same research
protocol as questionnaire surveys. Unlike a questionnaire, the interview script may
contain special instructions for the interviewer that is not seen by respondents, and
may include space for the interviewer to record personal observations and
comments (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Interview guide was used as the tool to help the
researcher exhaust all necessary information to be covered during conducting
42
interview. District water engineers and Registrar were purposely sampled; these are
the experts who had rich knowledge about the COWSO strategy implementation and
scheme monitoring at the district. The aim of using interviews were to gather wide
range of data that was not covered in questionnaires or for having more clarification
about the information answered in questionnaire.
3.9.3 Focus Group Discussion Guide
Focus group discussion guide is a tool that guides the researcher’s conversation
toward the topics and issues she/he wants to learn about from respondents. Focus
Group discussion guide varies from highly scripted to relatively loose, but they all
share certain features that help researcher to know what to ask about, in what
sequence, how to pose the questions, and how to make follow-ups (Bhattacherjee,
2012).
Focus group discussion guide was used as the tool to help the researcher to exhaust
all necessary information from wide range of people. The discussion based on the
elements of water project management at the district, position of the district in
executing the COWSO strategy, involvement of private operators, monitoring of
water projects and dissemination of information between stakeholders. Focus group
discussions were arranged with members of Council Water and Sanitation Team
(CWST) and more or less than six members were involved from departments
responsible.
3.10 Data Analysis and Presentation Techniques
After the collection of data from different sources, the information was analyzed
separately in order to distil the key points of relevance to the research. Both
qualitative and quantitative methods of data processing and analysis were executed.
43
The interpretation and analysis were directly linked to meet the desires of the
research objectives. Quantitative data were interpreted by using Microsoft Excel
version 14.0.1728.5000 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version
20 was used for calculation of the frequencies, percentages, central tendencies and
sums, as well for tables, graphs and charts generation. Qualitative analysis was done
with use of Microsoft Word 2010.
44
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the study findings obtained from the data collected through
survey; key informant interview, focus group discussion and literature review. This
chapter covers the sections by starting clarifying the profile of the target population,
followed by presenting and analysis data corresponding to the highlighted objectives
of the study.
4.1 Profile of the target population
This section provides the general characteristics of the respondents involved in
assessing the efficacy of the newly promoted strategy of COWSOs in managing rural
water projects. Seven districts of Dodoma region were sampled. The target
population was the Council Water and Sanitation Teams (CWSTs). The team is
responsible organs for implementation of COWSOs strategy at the districts.
Council Water and Sanitation Teams (CWSTs) are generally consisted of members
or their representatives from 6 departments and the District Executive Director
(DED) as chairperson. The teams include representatives from DED Office, District
Planning Office (DPLO), District Water Office (DWO), and District Health Office
(DHO), District Community development Office (DCDO), District Education Office
(DEO) and District Treasure Office (DTO).
Specifically for COWSOs strategy, CWSTs are accountable for organizing and
supervising the whole process of establishment and formation. They should also
monitor COWSOs performances. In one district, DWE highlighted that CWST was
45
responsible for preparing meetings, disbursing fund and designing the plans for
implementation of water projects. Some responsibilities are performed by the whole
team, while some others are executed within the single departments with close
assistance from the team whenever necessary. In the establishment process, the
CWST is responsible for sensitizing and train the community on COWSOs strategy.
Once the community is motivated to create the new entity, the team provides
representatives to facilitate the process of selecting COWSO leaders. In some
districts, the entire team participates in field activities while in some others, because
of financial problems, only few members can work on behalf of the team.
4.2 Implementation of COWSOs Strategy at District Level
Community owned water supply organizations (COWSOs) are identified as the
front line entities responsible for sustaining rural water supply and sanitation
services on behalf of their beneficiaries (communities) (URT, 2015). They are
regulated by the part VII (article 31 – article 35) of water supply sanitation acts of
2009 (URT, 2014b). The main assigned roles of COWSOs in rural water supply,
includes: operation and maintenance of schemes, customer care, revenue collection,
financial management, Sanitation, health and hygiene, tariff settings, monitoring and
reporting the trend of the schemes (URT, 2015).
Since 2009, the government decided to decentralize the rural water supply and
management to the communities, and COWSOs to be responsible legal entities. The
Water Supply and Sanitation Act No. 12, clearly illustrates procedures of
establishment and registering these entities. Also it explains how effectively
communities can participate in owning, planning, maintaining and operating water
supply projects and sanitation facilities in rural areas. To increases performance of
46
COWSOs establishment and registration, the government transferred the role to
Local Government Authorities (LGAs). The District Executive Director (DED) has
been given mandate to appoint a registrar of COWSOs on behalf of the ministry. The
Ministry of Water is only responsible for regulating COWSOs with delegation to
local government authorities (URT, 2015). The following is an assessment of
implementation of COWSO strategy at district level.
4.2.1 Status of Water Projects and Management Systems in Dodoma Region
4.2.1.1 Water Projects Existing in Dodoma Region
Initially, the study assessed the quantity of water projects available and the existing
management systems running them. The data collection tools were set to extract
information about number of water schemes (projects) and their corresponding
management systems which run the projects.
The results show that, Dodoma rural had 397 water schemes. The district with many
projects was Kondoa with 77 projects, while Dodoma Municipality had the smallest
number of 36 water projects (Table 4). Dodoma Municipal was supervising few
water projects because others projects were under jurisdiction of urban authority
(DUWASA).
47
Table 1: Total Number of Water Schemes and their Corresponding
Management Entities
Districts Water
schemes
Management entities,
frequency (percentage) Total Urban
authorities
COWSOs* POs** VWC***
KONGWA 52 2 (0.5%) 6 (1.5%) 15 (3.7%) 29 (7.7%) 52
KONDOA 77 1 (0.2%) 5 (1.2%) 8 (2.0%) 63 (15.6%) 77
DODOMA 36 0 (0.0%) 12 (3.0%) 6 (1.5%) 18 (4.4%) 36
CHAMWINO 65 0 (0.0%) 9 (2.2%) 56 (13.8%) 0 (0.0%) 65
CHEMBA 62 0 (0.0%) 13 (3.2%) 6 (1.5%) 43 (10.6%) 62
BAHI 56 0 (0.0%) 12 (3.0%) 18 (4.4%) 29 (7.2%) 59
MPWAPWA 49 1 (0.2%) 4 (1.0%) 5 (1.2%) 44 (10.9%) 54
TOTAL 397 4 (1%) 61 (15%) 114 (28) 226 (56%) 405
* COWSOs – Community- Owned Water Supply Organizations,
** POs – Private Operators,
*** VWC – Village Water Committee
Source: Field data (2016).
The quantity of water schemes differed from the total number of available
management entities because some water schemes were serving more than one
village with different management entities. That was seen to influence the number of
management entities when added up to be higher than the existing schemes
(Table 4). There were different management entities running water projects in the
districts, ranging from Village Water Committees (VWC), Water authorities, private
operators and COWSOs. The VWC was still dominant by managing 56% projects
(226 projects). VWC is the kind of management which has been existing in Tanzania
long time before COWSOs and private Operators. The government is now trying to
transform the system into COWSO management system for all water projects.
Generally, the Village Water committees are constituted of at least 5 members
selected from village council, considering representatives from each hamlet. In other
48
cases, some villages devoted the responsibility to financial and planning committees
of Village council.
Private operators (POs) were managing 28%, which is equivalent to 114 projects.
These operators are usually citizens or individuals in the village who are eager and
capable of managing water scheme under the agreed terms and conditions for the
benefits of all. Private operators sign contracts with the Village Government or
COWSO, by agreeing on financial and technical issues concerning management of
the scheme. Generally these contracts do not last more than two years to give room
for new election. Usually the contracts specify time and the amount of money that
the Operator has to pay to the village government or COWSO. The private operators
are responsible for operation and maintenance under agreed contract.
COWSOs are managing the 15% of all projects. According to Water supply and
Sanitation Act (WSSA) number 12 (2009), these are the entities entitled legally to
manage water projects. Normative policy insists that COWSOs can manage directly
the water systems or they can appoint service providers under COWSOs supervision.
Urban Authorities are managing few water projects (1%). The reason is because are
mainly designated to manage water in urban areas and small towns not in rural areas.
For instance in Dodoma Municipality, all projects are managed by urban water
authority (DUWASA) and not under CWST jurisdictions. That is they are excluded
from the district council authority. Some other districts (Chamwino, Chemba, and
Bahi) do not have urban authorities because they are new formulated districts, so
water projects are still under CWST. Although Kongwa, Kondoa and Mpwapwa are
rural districts they have urban water authorities (Table 4).
49
4.2.2 Establishment and Registration Processes
The government prepared guidelines for establishment and registration of COWSOs.
Those guidelines are described in detailed steps for strategy implementation and
which actors should be involved in it. This was and still important to simplify
execution of the plans and guaranteeing the homogeneous procedures of
establishment and registration process across districts (URT, 2009a).
The establishment and registration phase consists of five main steps; introduction of
the idea, organization of the community meetings and selection of interim
committee, constitution drafting, registration, technical training and backstopping.
The study asked District Water Engineers (from DWO) an open question about
process of COWSOs establishment. The aim of the section was to assess the
collocation between the procedures identified in guideline with the real situation in
the districts. The following sections, explain the process of its establishment and
registration.
4.2.2.1 Introduction of the Idea
Firstly CWSTs must convene an initial meeting with village leadership. The aim of
the meeting is to sell the idea of establishing legal water entity for managing water
projects that are either completed, under construction, or are expected to be built.
The village leadership and the village water and sanitation committee need to agree
with the concerning and share it to village assembly meeting. This procedure is clear
and it easily used in all districts.
50
4.2.2.2 Community Meeting and Selection of Interim Committee
CWST need to explain the importance of establishing legal water entity by
registration that is easily managed by the village community. The idea must be well
communicated before leading the community into the process of selecting the type of
COWSO. Later, CWST need to introduce various types of COWSO to the village
community, considering the procedures and steps of registration for each form of
COWSO available.
After mutual agreement of the people in the community following conditions or
criteria governing the type of selected water entity, preferred to be established. The
village government must call an assembly of all villagers to decide together to
establish and to register a type of COWSO they consider feasible. The village
Assembly must appoint an interim village water and sanitation committee, with
gender consideration. The committee is an organ which is responsible for supervising
the whole process of establishment and registration of water entity.
Results depicted that, in this stage, many districts highlighted that practically, they
did not explain about other types of COWSOs as prescribed by the law, because they
had only one guideline for establishing and registering COWSO which is water
consumer association (WCA). Only one district highlighted that they explained
different types of COWSOs and let the community decide. But in real sense, at the
end the community had to agree with water consumer association (WCA) because it
was the only option the districts could materially afford.
4.2.2.3 Constitution Drafting
The elected interim committee is responsible for preparing the draft of the
constitution and regulations of the proposed water entity. According to the guideline,
51
the preparation of constitution and regulations must involve the attorney (legal
officers) of the district council. The appointed Interim committee presents a draft of
the constitution and regulations at the village assembly to be discussed and approved.
After the village level, the interim committee must present a draft constitution, rules
and regulations to the Ward Development Council (WDC) for approval.
After the approval of the draft constitution, rules and regulations at ward level, the
chairperson and secretary of the interim committee, together with the chairperson
and secretary of the village government, need to submit all necessary documents to
the director of the district council, so as to obtain the consent from the district
council. The director of the district council is obliged to make inspections or
investigations through experts to ascertain with the actual situation, before
submitting the request to relevant organs/forums for obtaining approval at District
level. The district Director must submit a draft of the constitution, rules and
regulations to the CWST, the district Social Services Committee and the District full
council to ratify the establishment of the water entity.
Finally, the district council director writes a letter to the village interim committee
through the Village Government concerned, indicating that the district council has
consented to the village application to establish the water entity. At this stage, a
water entity is established according to the constitution; rules and regulations created
by the applicant and need to be registered.
4.2.2.4 Registration Process
After the establishment, the Office of the director of the district council needs to
write a letter to the registrar of water entities introducing entity that met the required
criteria. The interim village committee appointed by the village community needs to
52
prepare and submit application letter to the registrar through the Village and Ward
executive officers.
The committee is obliged to attach the constitution, rules, and regulations of the
water user entity, as well as the minutes of the general village assembly with the
names and signatures of the community members who attended the assembly,
together with the letter from the district council director, indicating that the district
council has ratified the establishment of the water entity.
Applicants for registration of the water entity obliged to fill out the form of
information prepared by the registrar. Applicants pays registration fee as stipulated
by the Registrar. The registrar creates a committee to review applications for
registration of water user entities in the respective area. Where appropriate, the office
of the district commissioner is involved whenever needed.
The Registrar verifies the authenticity of the water user entity whose registration has
gone through and offers some suggestions or advice to the water entity that hasn’t
qualified for it to go through too. The community members will be informed about
the outcome of their application whether they met the criteria or if improvements
need to be met before registration is achieved.
The Registrar shall give a legal certificate of registration for the qualified water
entity so as to be legally recognized, and be able to execute the intended obligation
as stipulated by the law. After completion of registration, the registrar initiates the
process advertising the registered water user entity in the Government Newspapers
for official recognition.
53
When the registration process is completed, the Registrar submits a certificate of
registration to the permanent committee, in the presence of the District Water and
Sanitation Team, and then the village permanent committee shows the certificate to
people of the area concerned at a public meeting. At this meeting the village interim
water committee’s hands over all activities and operational documentations of the
water entity to the COWSO committee that is supposed to be selected soon after the
end of the establishment process. Unfortunately, some districts never differentiated
between the interim committee and the COWSO committee. Other districts even
didn’t establish the interim committee and the COWSO committee. They selected
leaders once and call them “COWSO leaders”.
Generally, the Registration processes are perceived to be repetition of the
Constitution drafting. All the process could be integrated and simultaneously done at
once. Particularly, constitution drafting and all registration requirements can be
submitted together and this could help to reduce the time for establishment and
registration.
4.2.2.5 Technical Training and Backstopping
This is the last stage of building capacity of water entities before handling the
registered project to the COWSO committee. After being registered, the CWST must
conduct technical trainings to the COWSO committee. Trainings provided are based
on record keeping, business plan development, operational and maintenance skills of
the project management. After trainings the right to manage the water project will be
given to COWSO committee, while, CWST continues to provide backstop support to
the committee, monitor and supervise their activities.
54
4.2.3 Resources for Strategy Implementation at the Districts
Subsequently after having assessed the general information about rural water sector
development and procedures for COWSOs establishment and registration, the study
focused on availability of resources for implementing COWSOs strategy at the
districts level. Referring to the normative framework of the government, proper
implementation of COWSOs strategy can be attained when there are proper plans
and adequate resources ranging from financial resources, trained personnel and
proper information/guidelines (URT, 2015). Therefore, the section assessed the
availability of resources for COWSOs establishment and registration in the districts.
4.2.3.1 Financial Resources
The study assessed whether the districts had the financial planning and specific
budget for COWSOs. According to the normative framework, district must have the
COWSO budgets that will be coordinated within district Council’s Budgets. The
results showed that nearly a half of the districts (3 out of 7) neither had financial
planning nor a dedicated budget for COWSOs strategy implementation. Even for the
districts with the dedicated budgets line, had allocated just a small portion out of the
general budget. The respondents from district water departments underlined that in
case additional money was needed, the districts would reallocate amount of money
from other sources to support the process. The procedure of reallocation requires
bureaucratic steps and awaiting approval from full council, the way believed to slow
the registration pace in many districts.
Financial investment for COWSOs is generally inadequate in districts. The funds set
for COWSOs in financial year 2014/2015 in the districts were small compared to the
total water department's budget. Three Districts (Kondoa, Chamwino and Bahi) had
55
budget line for COWSO implementation which less than 10% of their general
budget. While, water departments at Kongwa, Dodoma and Chemba Districts didn’t
allocate any budget for COWSO implementation.
Additionally, some focus group discussion indicated, that sometimes CWST
requested amount of money from existing management entity (VWC or POs) to
support establishment and registration of new COWSOs, due to the fact that the
existing system had revenues in particular the benefit from selling water. The
situation is contradicted with the expected use of that revenue, which shall be used
for operation, maintenance and future development of the system.
The Government believes that COSWOs are important for sustainability of rural
water supply but until now the budget allocated for them is not sufficient.
Figure 3: COWSOs budget out of the Water Department's Budget in Districts
for 2014/2015
Source: Field data (2016).
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
0%
9%
0%
2%
0%
26%
3%
56
Financial planning and management is crucial for efficient functioning of rural water
projects. Unfortunately, in the majority of African countries, the budget for water
sector is unrealistic and funding for water projects is adequate. For sustainable rural
water supply, budget formulation and expenditure planning are the key components
of sector financial governance. Strong accounting and monitoring systems should
also be in place to ensure resources are allocated equitably to ensure the diverse
needs of various user groups are all addressed. It is important that water sector
budget formulation be policy sensitive; reflect sector targets such as the MDGs or
national sector development strategies (Mehta & Fugelsnes, 2007).
4.2.3.2 Availability of Information, Documents and Guidelines at District Level
An effective mechanism of communication and information sharing among
stakeholders in water sector is crucial element for proper implementation of any
strategy. Limited flow of guidelines and directives from central government to
districts may affect the performance of the strategy implementation (URT, 2015). In
order to determine whether the District has all the necessary information and
directives from the government, the study assessed the availability of relevant
directives (documents) as highlighted in NRWSS (2015).
The assessment focused on five important directives and programme
implementation website. The results showed that the old documents were abundant
and well communicated in all districts. These documents includes: National Water
Policy of 2002 (NAWAPO), the Water Supply and Sanitation Act of 2009 (WSSA)
and government guidelines on COWSOs establishment and registration (2010).
However, the availability of the new documents was challenging. At the time of the
study only 4 out of 7 (57%) districts had National Rural Water Sustainability
57
Strategy approved in May of 2015 and Water Sector Development Programme
Report for Phase II of 2014. Also only 2 (29%) out of 7 DWEs were aware about the
Programme Implementation Manual (PIM) website for the WSDP II. PIM website is
very important to the districts; it is new governmental initiative to communicate with
other water actors including districts. The website contains all directives from the
Ministry of Water (MoW) and, with possibility to download all relevant laws and
documents about rural water supply through that website.
Table 2: Availability of Guideline Documents at District Water Department
Document Number of
positive/total responses
Percentage of
positive responses
COWSOs guidelines 7/7 100%
WSSA 7/7 100%
WSDP II report 4/7 57%
NAWAPO 7/7 100%
NRWSS 4/7 57%
PIM website 2/7 29%
TOTAL 31/49
Source: Field data (2016).
Table 5 above depicts the situation of information sharing between the Ministry of
Water and the CWSTs. Documents that are relatively old are known and available
but recent documents are scarce and as rule not present in the Districts. This implies
that the Districts are not properly updated about the recent national strategies and
new targets in rural water sector. Therefore, the Ministry of Water must develop an
effective mechanism of information sharing among stakeholders especially in aspects
of new updates to assure the accountability of all stakeholders according to the recent
guideline.
58
4.2.3.3 Average time needed for COWSO Establishment and Registration
Time consumed for establishment and registration of COWSO is one of the
indicators of proper performance of the strategy. The study assessed how long, on
average, the district would use or need to constitute a COWSO. According to the
government calculations and suggestions, in 2009, the process was supposed to last
on average of 252 days, but since 2015 the new proposed days introduced by the
government were 42. In the new proposed days, some few procedures are emitted to
speed up the process of establishment and registration (URT, 2015).
This section aimed at assessing the practical days used by Districts and comparing
them to the government calculations. The CWSTs provided two different data about
the necessary period for a COWSO to be registered that is effective days and average
days.
The effective days indicate in details all planned activities and the number of the
days needed to accomplish specific activity, the days of each activity when added ,
its total cannot be considered as the period in which a COWSO is successfully
established and registered, because these days do not consider risks and uncertainties
that might prolong the period. However, these detailed days are very important for
preparing budgets and working plans of activities because is easy to know how long
each activity can last if everything is in place.
The second are the average days needed for the COWSO to be completely registered
from the first to the last step. These days vary across districts, the minimum district
uses 48 days and maximum uses 90 days (Figure 4). The average time is calculated
considering all risks included that is, lack of finance, human resources and
59
transportation. The mean was calculated from average days spent by all districts
equalled 71 days. That period is less than recommended by old government
suggestions (252 days) but more than proposed by NRWSS (42 days).
Figure 4: Average time for COWSO Establishment and Registration in each
District
Source: Field data (2016).
4.2.4 Status of COWSO Establishment and Registration at Regional level
Generally, in Dodoma region, there are 72 COWSOs, which are of two types: which
are completely registered and the other with ongoing registration (established but
unregistered). The COWSOs with ongoing registrations are of two types as well;
those unregistered but had been given the mandate to manage water project and the
others of the same status (unregistered) but are not managing the project.
The findings revealed that Out of 72 COWSOs, 61 (85%) managing water projects,
of which 41 (57%) were registered and the rest 21(28%) were managing water
projects even if the registration process was not completed (established but
60
unregistered). The 15% of the total 72 comprised the COWSOs that were under
registration procedures but were not given the mandate to manage water project,
instead village water committee (VWC) were still running the project on behalf until
the registration were completed.
Figure 5: Percentage of Registered and Unregistered COWSOs in the Dodoma
Region
Source: Field data (2016).
The situation shows that status of COWSOs registration in Dodoma region is low
whichever at national level. The main problem highlighted by the Ministry of Water,
is the lack of funds allocated to the District government for executing the program.
Often, even when the funds are set, they are merely reallocated for other purposes
including monitoring and supervision (URT, 2014b). The National Rural Water
Sustainability Strategy (NRWSS) set the new target for registering COWSOs in
5,526 villages in Tanzania by 2014-2017. Despite the reduction of registration days
to 42 instead of previously 252 days, Only 525 COWSOs were registered in whole
15%
28%
57%
85%
Operative COWSO
(registered and unregestered)
COWSO on registration
process but not operative
Operative COWSO but not
registered
Operative and registered
COWSO
61
country. The challenges addressed by NRWSS are the long process of registration
and financial resources to facilitate registration (URT, 2015). This depicts that
reducing registration days without disbursing enough resources for registration is not
an effective way of speeding up the registration process. Without sufficient funds the
districts are likely to use more time to implement the strategy.
4.2.5 Types of COWSO found within the region
According to the Water Supply and Sanitation Act number 12 of 2009, the COWSOs
might be of various forms depending on preferences and opportunity of the
concerned community (e.g. Water Consumer Association, companies, NGOs,
cooperatives). The study found that the type of COWSOs predominant in the region
were only Water Consumer Associations (WCAs). This dominance of the WCAs can
be explained by looking at the existence of formerly types of community
participation practised since NAWAPO. The government’s policy was oriented to
increase the independence of water management entities in rural areas by fostering
the community participation through Water User Groups and Water User
Associations. The National Water Sector Development Programme consolidated
document of 2006 defines these categories as the group of people or association of
people managing the common water distribution point or the entire water project
(URT, 2006). These groups are constituted by village communities’ members that
own and manage the water supply independently from the political power of the
village government.
62
Table 3: Types of COWSOs Available in Districts
Districts Water Consumer
Associations
Cooperatives Board of
trustees
NGOs Companies
KONGWA 6 0 0 0 0
DODOMA 5 0 0 0 0
MPWAPWA 12 0 0 0 0
CHAMWINO 9 0 0 0 0
BAHI 13 0 0 0 0
CHEMBA 12 0 0 0 0
KONDOA 4 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 61 0 0 0 0
Source: Field data (2016).
Generally the idea of establishing and registering COWSOs entered in a context as
inherent system from past when communities could manage water schemes through
entities called Water User Associations and Water Group Association. Therefore, for
all actors involved (districts, village government and water users), it has been easier
to them to implement COWSOs as associations of water Consumers, rather than
private companies, NGOs or cooperatives. Additionally, there are no guidelines or
documents that explain in details how to establish other different types of COWSOs
than Water Consumer Associations.
4.2.6 Challenges for Establishment and Registration of COWSOs
Despite the strategy enacted by Water Supply and Sanitation Act of 2009, the pace of
registration is undesirably low. For instance, in Dodoma region, there were three
districts that had not registered any COWSO until 2014. The major problem
highlighted by respondents was the lack of funds to facilitate registration activities.
The districts need on average 71 days for establishing and registering one COWSO
(See paragraph 4.3.3.3). The whole process needs time, human and financial
63
resources. Some districts are blaming the central government for underprivileged
allocation of budgets for COWSOs registration. Some respondent advocated that,
lack of fund was the reason why the districts failed to register the COWSOs as
planned yearly. Also lack of human resources is a problem for the proper
implementation of the strategy, as 2 districts (29%) highlighted (Table 7). For
instance, in Bahi district the problem of human resource is severe. The directives
from the government insist that the water department should have at least 25
members, but with regard to the district there are only 9 officers and 6 of them are
close to retirement. Due to that the process of COWSOs establishment has been
experiencing challenges in its supervision.
Table 4: Challenges for Effective COWSOs Establishment and Registration
Challenges
Number of
positive/total
responses
Percentage of
positive
responses
Total
percentage
of cases
Lack of fund 7/7 41% 100%
Inadequate human resources 2/7 12% 29%
Lack of awareness to the community 4/7 24% 57%
Conflicts of between stakeholders 4/7 24% 57%
TOTAL 17/28 100%
Source: Field data (2016).
As table 7 revealed, lack of community awareness is the problem highlighted by 57%
of district representatives. COWSOs strategy is a new idea to many rural
communities. Even though it was legally established in 2009, many districts started
the implementation only 2 years ago. It was revealed that villagers did not
understand why they should establish COWSOs. In some cases districts had to go
and train communities several times but the villagers did not agree with the idea
64
easily. Hence, districts needed extra time and funds to frequently train and raise
awareness.
Conflicts between stakeholders were the problem highlighted by 57% of districts
representatives. The introduction of new management system was seen to raise a
conflict of interest over revenues. Water projects have been the main source of
revenue to village authorities for many years, hence Village Governments are
reluctant to accept the idea; mainly because they fear to lose control over the
revenues from water Projects. In other cases, conflicts can be manifested between
COWSOs and villagers: when the entity fails to provide adequate services, the
villagers can resist and chase out the COWSO and instead insist village government
to hire private operators (PO). Also some political leaders reject the COWSO system
only because of different political ideologies.
The concept of using community based management proliferated in 1970s and 1980s
as the response to the large-scale breakdown of rural water supply systems. Since
then, wide range of methods and different techniques had been used to implement
community based approach in water supply projects. In this regard, the Tanzania
government decided to adapt the COWSOs system. All varieties of community
management systems are faced with common problems of implementation
worldwide, which includes: technological backwardness of communities, financial
problems, preparation of communities to accept challenges, poor governance
(Mohamed, 2004).
4.3 Private Sector Involvement in Rural Water Supplies System
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in water supplies systems has become the major
approach for managing water projects in rural areas worldwide (World Bank, 2012a).
65
The Devolution of responsibilities to private and independent entities, leave the
government departments free to focus on programme facilitation, coordination,
monitoring and overall policy formulation. In Tanzania, the actors identified by the
government as the private sectors range from NGOs, consultants, drillers,
contractors, private operators, agents, artisans, suppliers of pipes, pumps, and other
materials (URT, 2005). The government believes that the contribution of private
sectors in service delivery will enhance effectiveness and development of rural water
sector (URT, 2009b).
4.3.1 Involvement of the District Councils in the Contracting Private Sectors
Primarily the District Water Engineers (DWEs) who stood as the district
representatives were asked whether they had ever received any directives from the
government on how to involve private sectors in rural water supply sector. All of
them declared that they certainly had not received any guideline or advices from
central government. The only normative guideline they were using was National
Water Policy of 2002, which insist the improvement and facilitation of the
involvement of private operators for service delivery (URT, 2002). However the
clause does not clearly explain on how that can be facilitated.
The majority of private sectors involved in the rural water supply in Dodoma were
the private operators (private agents) who were managing water projects as single
individuals under signed or verbal contract with village water committee (VWC) or
COWSO. The study was eager to assess the involvement of districts in the process of
selecting private operators. Generally, the study found that the water departments of
districts (sometimes the whole CWST) were responsible for supervising the selection
of private operators (POs). But at the same time those departments were less
66
involved in the process of contracting these private operators (POs) to run rural water
projects. As it was seen, more than a half of water departments were not involved in
selection of private operators (POs), that right was left to communities. Responses
from the representatives from water departments’ show that 57% of the districts were
not involved in facilitating the selection of private operators (Figure 6).
It was only 43% of the water department representatives (district) which reported
that they were involved in the process. But after a deep discussion about the ways in
which the water departments intervened in the selection process, it came out that
water departments were not participating fully. Those departments provided just an
advice, general directives and template of the contracts but the control of the whole
procedure was left with the community themselves. For instance in Mpwapwa
district, the water department officers reported that they only provided directives and
clarification about the characteristics of good private operators’ that the community
could have. For example the representative of Bahi district affirmed that the
intervention of the water department was not enough. However it was noted that
water department was planning to increase the involvement at early stages of the
selection in order to get good selection of private operators.
67
Figure 6: Water departments Involved in Selection of Private Operators
Source: Field data (2016).
4.3.2 Status of Private Operator’s Involvement in Dodoma Region
The Government has been suggesting increasing the participation of private sectors
in rural water supply (URT, 2009a). However, currently, only normative framework
of the COWSO system can include private operators involvement. According to the
law (Water supply and sanitation Act, 2009), if private operators are interested to
invest in rural water supply, they should abide with the government policy and sign
the contracts with existing system which is supposed to be COWSOs. However on
contrary, the situation is different. This is because many private operators have
contracted written or oral agreements with the Village Governments because
COWSOs are still few. The Dodoma Region has 114 recognized private operators
who run water schemes. However, only 3 of them have signed contract with
COWSOs, where the remaining 111 signed contracts or had oral agreement with
village governments.
43%
57%
Yes
No
68
Chamwino is the district with large number of private operators (56); Bahi is the
second with 18 private operators. Mpwapwa is the last with few private operators (5)
(Table 4).
4.3.3 Role of Private Operators in Rural Water Supplies
The study found that, in the Dodoma region private operators occupied the second
position (after Village Water Committee) by managing 28% of all water projects.
According to the normative framework, the private sectors should only act as service
providers, while the property ownership of the projects remains with the
communities through COWSOs or village government (VG) (URT, 2015).
In all sampled districts of Dodoma, private operators were in form of agents (known
as agents). These were citizens appointed by village assembly to run water schemes.
All respondents from the water departments highlighted that private operators were
responsible for operating the project, collecting water fees, hiring workers (e.g. tap
attendants, security guards).They were also responsible for ordinary technical
maintenance of the scheme and for any other associated problems. The maintenance
cost covered by Private Operator or village government/COWSO, by referring to the
agreed terms and conditions prescribed in the contract. These private operators
usually paid an agreed monthly fee to the Village Government /COWSO as a kind of
rent for the water scheme. Although private operators (POs) could be considered
fully responsible for the management under a practical point of view but the property
ownership of the scheme was still with the community through their existing
management.
69
4.3.4 Opportunities of Private Sector Involvement in COWSO System
The research assessed whether the private operators were still having opportunities to
thrive under the COWSO system. The respondents from water departments were
asked whether their department attracted private investments in rural water supply.
Respondents highlighted that, the lack of government financial resources to support
water projects was challenge that made PPP to be one of the best alternative for
improving rural water sector.
Many respondents highlighted that private operators still had the role to play for
sustainable rural water supply. At district level, 5 out of 7 (71%) representatives from
water departments reported that private operators were still needed in rural water
sector. This is due to the contribution they had shown. It was revealed that private
operators were better in collecting revenues; they had capital and savings, paid
regularly the fees to the villages and had enough resources for buying spare parts.
Also these private operators were managing the scheme with less bureaucracy and
mostly they took decisions instantly.
The respondents claimed that private operators should co-exist with COWSOs in
managing water projects. This co-existence could be in way that COWSOs can
manage and supervise the scheme, but the private operators can be delegated with
authority of operation and maintenance of the scheme. This simply means that the
daily operation of the schemes should be under the responsibility of private
operators, while the COWSOs can monitor and supervise the work of private
operators.
70
With regard to addition about how private operators can be involved in productive
way. The study asked the district representatives to highlight on which basis private
sectors could engage in other way profitable for improvement of rural water sector.
All district representatives recommended that private operators could store and
supply spare parts. This is due to the importance of availability of spares parts during
machine breakdown. Six out of seven respondents (86%) suggested that private
operators could do operation and maintenance of the machine when there was any
problem. Other recommendations were provision of consultation and technical
assistance to water projects (43%) and installation of boreholes (Table 7).
Table 5: Recommendation of Districts Representatives on how Private Sector
can be involved in more Profitable way
Source: Field data (2016).
The integration of community based management approach by different
organizations is common. For instance, the government of Malawi after the failure of
the Ministry of water and development to manage water resources, the Ministry
decided use to non-governmental organizations to supervise community based
management (Chilima et al., 2002).
Proposed options
Number of
positive/total
responses
Percentage of
responses
Percentage
of cases
Store and sell Spare parts 7/7 39% 100%
Installation of bore holes 2/7 11% 29%
Consultancy on technical issues 3/7 17% 43%
Operation and Maintenance 6/7 33% 86%
TOTAL 18 100%
71
4.3.5 Obstacles of Private Operators’ Involvement
Despite the contribution of private operators for sustainability of rural water supply,
the system is still having some obstacles. This because majority the of private
operators were accused of being excessive profiteering rather service providers. This
challenge is so common; as it has been addressed by many researchers before
(Kleemeier, 2010; Water aid, 2009; World Bank, 2012a). In Dodoma region, the
private operators were often paying low fee compared to what they were earning per
month from the project. This is because many water projects did not have water-
metres to read the amount of water discharge. Also the Village Governments
(VGs)/COWSOs as the owners of the project didn’t evaluate the revenue from the
established water scheme before handing it over to private operators. Due to that, the
VGs/COWSOs couldn’t correctly track the revenues collected by the private
operators because the actual productivity of the water scheme is unknown.
Also it was highlighted that under private operators the sustainability of the scheme
was in jeopardy. This is because private operators tended to use the machines
without frequent maintenances. Improper monitoring of private operators was seen to
be the cause of private operators to insufficiently servicing the machines.
Additionally, as one of the disadvantage, lack of transparency by the private
operators about the revenue collected was reported to be a serious problem.
4.4 Monitoring System of Rural Water Projects
Complex water schemes installed in rural areas require technical expertise and
regular monitoring. Experience shows that without such expertise and close follow
up, breakdowns of infrastructures and mismanagement are frequent (URT, 2015).
72
These communities’ capacities to monitor and support water projects by themself are
inadequate. Communities do not have access to qualified technicians; the chain for
spare parts’ distribution is weak in rural areas. Community population and locally
trained technicians cannot fix the serious machine breakdown or pipe leakage. Even
if the funds are available, communities have to get qualified technical solutions
(URT, 2015).
Monitoring of water scheme is a key aspect for project functionality and
sustainability. Improper monitoring and regulations results to high risk of
mismanagement of water supply services. Considering that, the MoW prioritizes the
water departments at the districts to develop quarterly monitoring programme for
technical support of rural water project. Furthermore, MoW drafted a monitoring and
evaluation plan as guidance for an effective improvement of the sector by
highlighting priority areas of intervention and expected results, as well as distributing
responsibilities (URT, 2015). Several data support the idea that inadequate
monitoring and supervision programme contribute to increase the number of non-
functional water points in rural settings.
4.4.1 Status of Monitoring and Supervision of Water Schemes
The current situation of monitoring and supervision of water projects in Dodoma
region is not satisfactory. The research investigated the planning of district’s
monitoring and supervision programme by taking into consideration two important
indicators for proper monitoring which are: existence of monitoring plan and
existence of monitoring budget. In the Dodoma region, 4 out of 7 (57%) districts
were seen to have monitoring plan and monitoring budget, 2 out of 7 (29%) had
73
either monitoring plan or monitoring budget while 1 district (14%) had neither
monitoring plan nor monitoring budget (Figure 7).
Figure 7: The Availability of Monitoring plan and Monitoring Budget at
Regional level
Source: Field data (2016).
In fact, the study revealed that there were poor planning and few financial resources
for monitoring old water schemes, while more efforts were invested in construction;
supervision and monitoring of new water schemes. Although the relevance of
monitoring and supervision budget is emphasized in the national rural water
sustainability strategy of 2015, currently the budget was deficit and represents just as
small proportion of the district water departmental budget. About 71% of districts
had dedicated budget component for monitoring and evaluation. Seldom did districts
receive funds for monitoring plan from the Government.
4.4.2 Types of Monitoring and Supervision Practices
In the Dodoma region, the current status of monitoring and supervision of rural water
schemes is undesirably low. Lack of planning, human and financial resources are the
main obstacles for proper monitoring. Inadequate resources drives the districts to
implement monitoring programme based on emergences cases. This type of
57% 29%
14% Monitoring Plan and Budget
Monitoring Plan or Monitoring
Budget
None
74
monitoring is done only when a serious problem occurs. For instance, when there is
complete dysfunction of the water scheme, district officials can make a visit. Other
monitoring programmes are based on schemes request. This happens when the
management entities contact the water departments for assistance.
The Government has been insisting on periodic monitoring that identifies all
activities which have been carried out in terms of quality and quantity at a particular
time frame (quarterly). However in actual sense the study found that periodic
monitoring of the water schemes was rarely practised. This is because only two
districts (29%) reported that they did the periodic monitoring of water schemes.
These districts admitted that is not easy for them to do quarterly monitoring in all
villages according to the available resources. Given this fact ,they just selected few
villages to visit.
4.4.3 District Support to Water Projects
The collected data highlight that all districts were providing technical assistance
(Figure 8). Through technical officers (water technicians), the districts were assisting
villages in designing, constructing and supervising water project, providing technical
advices and training the members of management entities. For instance, when there
were breakdowns or constructions of new projects, water department offices through
their water technicians took responsibility of supervising the activities.
Financial support was reported to be inadequate, as it was provided by 43% of
districts (Figure 8). In fact, it was clarified that financial assistance was only possible
when the government provided specific financial budget for supporting rural water
projects. Other financial instruments, such as loans or credit facilities, were not
75
provided; neither for O&M nor for emergencies. In order to improve the financial
sustainability of the water schemes, the water departments` were advising and
training the communities or management entities to save their revenue obtained from
the project.
Figure 8: Support provided by the Districts to Water Schemes
Source: Field data (2016).
4.4.4 Communication and Information Sharing among Stakeholders
Establishing effective and robust mechanisms of communication and information
sharing among water sector stakeholders is a central goal for improving supervision
and accountability between the communities and districts. Limited collaboration and
networking between water actors may affect the performance and sustainability of
water schemes. For effective communication between community and the districts,
NRWSS (2015) recommend information sharing through quarterly reporting of
scheme operation.
The study assessed the aspects of information sharing between stakeholders. The
results found an ineffective mechanism for information sharing between community
and the districts. In many districts, communities were not submitting monthly reports
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Financial support Technical support Loans
43%
100%
0%
76
to the districts, an alternative way of tracking the schemes development after the
failure of periodically field visits. The main problem discovered was that districts
were not provided with guideline for reports writing for the communities. Only 2 out
of 7 districts were providing standard format to the community, but even in these
districts, the majority of communities were reluctant to submit the reports.
For instance, the Mpwapwa district had a report format and a good system of record
keeping for the schemes reports; nevertheless the water department underlined that
less than 10% of the villages were submitting the reports. Frequently, the reports
were submitted only in the case of needed assistance from the water departments. In
another case, the district officers themselves made a visit to communities and
collected the reports. The scarcities of schemes performance reports affected the
districts monitoring activities.
In the rest of the districts where standard formats of report were not available,
communities seldom shared information through bank statements, payment slips,
receipts and minutes of the Village assembly. However, the information collected in
that way was poor and not useful for districts. It can be over emphasized that
availability of information about schemes status, service quality and relationship
within the community are crucial to design effective and efficient monitoring plans
and establish scheduled technical support.
4.4.5 Indicators for tracking projects performance
According to water supply reliability theory outlined by Damelin et al (1972) it is
important to have factors that determine the probability of water supply by the
system. It’s crucial to have indicators that will help to understand the reliability and
77
level of service provided by tracking the trend of the scheme performance for proper
allocation of resources and suitable operation and maintenance to meet the need of
the consumers per unit time (Damelin et al, 1972).
Indicators can be important tools for monitoring and allocating resources whenever
needed. The study assessed what kind of indicators the districts were used to measure
the performance of the water project. All districts highlighted that level of service
provided was the first indicator of a well-managed project. The determinant of the
adequate services delivered by the scheme includes the stability of the schemes to
provide reliable water service at distribution points to meet the demand of the
population at the sufficient number of hours every day.
About 86% of the respondents highlighted the indictor for well-functioning water
project the revenue collected and savings from project earnings. Revenues collection
and savings were more likely the same, but the scheme with high revenue collection
and high expenditure without savings could be regarded as poorly managed.
Respondents substantiated that if the management entity was collecting sufficient
revenues, the risk of financial problems would decrease substantially. Higher savings
showed that the scheme was financially independent which implies that the revenues
could be higher than the costs of operations. Furthermore, savings are helpful for
instant maintenance in case of scheme malfunction or breakdowns i.e. for buying
spare parts, for paying technical assistance.
Absence of technical breakdowns (proper functionality) was highlighted by 3
districts (43%). This implies that the whole system was operating perfectly from the
water sources, treatment, storage, conveyance and distribution to consumers. The
78
guarantee for proper functionality could be attained through effective operation,
maintenance and technical conditions of the machine used.
Representatives from 2 districts (29%) highlighted that the absence of conflicts
between stakeholders was an indicator for the well managed scheme. Sustainability
of the scheme could be hindered when there is misunderstanding between the
existing management versus the community. In most cases, conflicts have been
witnessed between the management and community or the management versus the
village government. In most cases these conflicts have been due to political ideology,
revenue embezzlement and irresponsibility.
Figure 9: Indicators of well managed and Performing Water Scheme.
Source: Field data (2016).
The issue of monitoring indicators is very common in predicting the performances or
health of the scheme. Still (2006) mentioned three most important indicators of a
well performing water supply scheme’s; these include water quality (colour, taste,
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Level of Service
provided
Revenue
collected/Savings
Infrequent of
system
breakdown
Absence of
conflict between
stakeholders
100%
86%
43%
29%
79
smell or disaffect) reliability (working tap days as a percentage of the maximum
possible) and communication transparency.
4.4.6 Challenges of Monitoring and Supervision of the Rural Water Projects
The main challenge of implementing Supervision and Monitoring programme in
rural areas is inadequate fund. In some districts, the amount of funds available for the
monitoring and supervision of old schemes represents the small portion out of the
annual budget of the district’s water department. When monitoring becomes so
important, some districts reallocate amount of money set for water department
running costs like stationeries, bills, per diem and fuel to implement old schemes
monitoring. Monitoring is only considered serious in new contracted schemes, which
in most cases, have higher and independent budget coming from government or
donours with the budget for monitoring and supervision imbedded.
Limited collaboration and information sharing between community and the districts
also affect proper monitoring and supervision of the water schemes. The majority of
management entities didn’t submit reports to the water departments because they did
not have report writing skills. The few villages that shared information were
submitting only minutes and log books of the village general meeting. Sharing of
information between districts and communities is essential for the water departments
in monitoring and evaluation of the water schemes trend and performances.
Furthermore, availability of information at district level is important for designing
proper monitoring plans and strengthening of activities at village level.
80
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
The study sought to assess rural water supply management system in Dodoma
region; the main focus was on assessing the workability of the newly promoted
strategy of COWSOs. The pivotal significance of this study being to achieve a deep
understanding on how districts implement the strategy after delegation of authorities
from the Ministry of Water. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to highlight
the districts procedures for registering and monitoring COWSOs and how the new
management system may complement the existing management systems of private
operators (POs) and Village water committees (VWC). The chapter starts with the
presentation of the summary of the results, conclusion, recommendations, and ends
up with suggested areas for further studies.
5.1 Summary of Results
5.1.1 Implementation of COWSOs Strategy at District Level
Since 2009 the government enacted COWSOs strategy as alternative way for close
monitoring and supervision of rural water projects. Despite the efforts of the
government in improving management of rural water supply through COWSOs, in
Dodoma region the management system was still dominated by Village water
committees for 56% followed by private operators 28% while COWSOs was only
15%.
81
As status of COWSOs registration at national level is low, this is also what the study
revealed in Dodoma region. Generally, in Dodoma region there were only 72
COWSOs, of which 85% were managing water projects and the rest 15% were still
under registration process. Most of the respondents highlighted the main problem
that was slowing the pace of strategy implementation to be lack of funds to facilitate
the process. Furthermore, the study revealed other associated problems, which
include unclear guidelines, poor planning, low awareness, conflicts of interest,
inadequate directives and poor dissemination of information between stakeholders.
The implementation of COWSOs strategy needs abundant resources ranging from
financial resources, proper information, guidelines and trained human resources. The
inadequacy of these resources might affect the proper execution of the plans. For
instance the study found that in the year 2014/2015, Dodoma region managed to
register only a quarter (25%) of COWSOs planned annually. The robust cause of the
failure to achieve their objectives was budget deficit for strategy implementation.
Despite the fiscal issues, the study observed the unclear guideline for strategy
implementation. For instance, the directive on COWSOs establishment and
registration that released in 2010 by the Ministry of Water is not clear, something
which forced each district to modify and adapt it in their own ways during all years
of implementation. Also the guideline does not suggest on average specific budget
for establishing and registering a COWSO. This could be helpful for proper planning
and effective resource allocation. The unclear guideline affects the plans and
homogeneity of procedures for establishment and registration among districts.
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5.1.2 Private Sectors Involvement in Rural Water Supply
The study revealed that, Dodoma region had114 recognized private operators who
were running water schemes. However, only 3 of them had signed contract with
COWSOs, the remaining 111 had signed contracts or had oral agreement with village
governments. The majority of private sectors involved in the rural water supply in
Dodoma were private operators (private agents). They were managing water schemes
as single individuals under signed or verbal contract. These private Operators were
responsible for running project, collecting water fees and were usually paying an
agreed monthly fee to the Village Government /COWSO as a kind of rent for the
water scheme.
Currently, the performance and contribution of private operators (agents) in rural
water supply is well recognized. According to the discussions with district officers,
private Operators were better in providing reliable service and they had good
experience of collecting more revenues. This is because they paid regularly the fees
to the village government/COWSOs and they had enough savings for buying spare
parts and making maintenance. Also, private operators (POs) were more efficient in
providing service as they were running the scheme in a business model. For the
reason that for them when they worked efficiently, they are likely to get profit.
The study found opportunities for private operators to thrive under the COWSO
system. The results show that private operators can have a hybrid management
system with COWSOs in managing water projects. The co-existence between two
systems can be in way that COWSOs can manage and supervise the scheme, but
delegate the authority of operation and maintenance of the scheme to private
operators. Despite the opportunities of private operators in rural water sector, the
83
study revealed some obstacles of private operators; the main controversy being on
the signed contracts. Because of low awareness of the community, most of the signed
contracts were more advantageous to private operators rather than communities who
were the actual owners of the scheme. This problem was linked to less inclusion of
districts in administering the process of selecting good private operators, the situation
that made the majority of private operators take advantage over community’s lack of
knowledge. Generally, the respondents highlighted that the monthly fee paid by
private operators was low compared to the actual revenues collected from the project.
5.1.3 Monitoring and Supervision of Rural Water Supply Projects
The current situation of monitoring and supervision of water projects in Dodoma
region is not satisfactory. Almost all districts conduct monitoring only when there is
an emergency or a specific request from communities, but this fact contradicts with
the concept insisted by the government which needs monitoring in terms of assessing
the quality and quantity of each scheme at a particular time frame (quarterly).
Although, five out of seven districts (71%) declared to have monitoring budgets, but
in reality, these budgets were not allocated with funds and activities were not
effectively conducted. The districts were not doing periodic monitoring in quarterly
bases. This was mainly due to the permanent lack of funds.
Due to inadequate resources, districts depended on reports from community to assess
the quality and quantity of water scheme performance. Unluckily, the majority of
management entities did not deliberately submit comprehensive reports to the
districts. Generally, they brought performance reports only when they needed
assistance from District Water office (during emergencies). This situation created a
vicious circle of delay as a consequence that made district to intervene to an issue
84
when it was already too late. Therefore, availability of information about the water
schemes is so important for the districts planning and management. However,
unfortunately, this was not well communicated to the communities.
5.2 Conclusion
The study found that devolution of COWSOs implementation to the districts was the
best alternative after execution disappointment at the Ministry of Water. Even though
Water Supply and Sanitation Act legally established COWSOs in 2009, many
districts started the implementation only 2 years ago after the devolution of
responsibility. For instance, in Dodoma region, three districts didn’t register any
COWSO until 2014. COWSO system is effective and efficient management entity,
even though communities are still infant to stand on their own to facilitate all
activities, the COWSO strategy is participatory something which increases the sense
of ownership and bring the extra authority to the community to manage water
projects in a sustainable way.
Similarly, private operators were seen perform well in rural water supply, despite the
few challenges as discussed above. Various addressed experiences of private
operators, are literally due to the district exclusion in supervising the process of
selecting private operators.The study believes that when the private operators are
well managed and monitored, they are likely to be faithful and perform better for the
advantage of all beneficiaries around.
Regardless of the community participation and Public- Private Partnership (PPP)
being the good approach for managing rural water supply, the study found that
having proper monitoring and evaluation systems is highly significant. There is no
85
doubts that without proper monitoring and supervision, rural water projects will
ultimately collapse. Poor monitoring and supervision of water projects slows the
government’s efforts to reach its targets for rural water supply due to mushrooming
of non-functioning distribution points despite huge investment on the sector.
Therefore, appropriate system of monitoring and evaluation of water projects can
raise accountability of the existing management entity.
Proper monitoring of management entities is very important regardless is the
COWSO, private operator or Village Water committee is managing water scheme. It
was learnt that introducing new management entity without having good incentives
for proper monitoring is unsustainable. For instance, despite the fact that the
introduction of COWSO system is best alternative for sustainability of rural water
sector, without close monitoring and supervision, the probability of COWSOs to
thrive is still doubtable. This is due to the reason that many rural communities are not
aware of installed machines for supplying water. Due to this monitoring is important
for sustainability of rural water projects.
5.2 Recommendations
Basing on the findings from this study, review of literature, and views obtained
during survey and discussion, various recommendations are given below on what
should be done to improve management of rural water supply. Considering the
objectives of the study, the recommendations are divided into three categories;
COWSO strategy implementation, private operators’ involvement, monitoring and
supervision of rural water projects
86
5.2.1 COWSO Strategy Implementation
Considering that COWSOs’ strategy is still a new idea to many water stakeholders, it
is important to develop training and facilitation programme for strengthening the
capacity and sensitizing the stakeholders. The potentiality of COWSOs must be well
communicated to increase community commitments and competences for
implementing the programme. To increase degree of acceptability of the idea,
communities must be trained about the importance of COWSOs for sustainability of
their rural water project.
Government should intensify the investment by disbursing enough funds and
resources for the programme execution. Many districts highlighted that the major
challenge was lack of fund to support the program. Once the budget is deficit, the
government should use private sectors or NGOs as an alternative option to support
the programme implementation.
The Government should review and update COWSOs’ guidelines by considering the
suggestions from the districts. The districts have been using the guideline released in
2010 for years, so they have observations that forced them to modify the guideline
depending on their experience and practice. According to the gaps observed during
interviews, the districts recommended that procedures should be simplified and
integrated together. Although procedures for establishment and registration have
been separated, there are still some stages overlapping. Also the recent guideline
lacks explanation about other types of COWSOs as narrated in the Water Supply and
Sanitation Act of 2009.
The opportunity of co-existence between COWSO and private operators must be
well facilitated. In order to avoid obstacles of private operators, proper incentives
87
must be put during early stages of selecting and signing contracts with private
Operators. The districts must be fully involved in selection of private operators,
supervising the signing of the contracts and monitoring their activities. This will
avoid conflicts that may arise between parties.
5.2.2 Private Operators’ Involvement in Rural Water Management System
Government should design; implement policies and programme to create a positive
environment to stimulate private sector involvement in rural water sector. More
directives and regulations should be developed for the sustainable involvement of the
private sector in rural water sector. Particularly, the institution framework must be
developed for regulating the involvement of private sector in the way that is
profitable and sustainable.
Government should increase opportunities of private sectors involvement in COWSO
system. The section 31 of the Water supply and sanitation act number 12, clarifies
that a COWSO can be in different forms ranging from Water Consumer Associations
(WCA), Cooperatives, and Board of trustees, Non-Governmental Organisations or a
company (URT, 2009b). However,currently, the government has only the guideline
for COWSO that is in the form of WCA. This restricts the opportunities of
implementing other types of COWSOs that could involve NGOs and other private
sectors.
5.2.3 Monitoring System of Rural Water Supply Projects
Monitoring should be a tool to guide the future supporting activities instead of being
considered as a resource to be used during emergencies and requests only as many
districts were seen to be practising. According to the monitoring of many practicing
88
districts it is hard to predict the future needs of the water projects in order to put
incentives and early intervention. As discussed earlier, monitoring of water scheme is
a key aspect for project functionality and sustainability. Without greater effort on
monitoring and supervision there is a high risk of mismanagement of water projects
which can lead to decline of service provided.
As it was many districts were experiencing the scarcity of the resources for
monitoring and supervision programme. When resources were not enough, the
importance of proper planning became even more significant. It is therefore essential
for districts to have good plans and keep working effectively by using low cost
programme of monitoring and supervision by concentrating the available resources
and efforts on feasible and fundamental targets.
Once periodical field visits become costly in terms of facilitation fund, it is then
necessary for districts to have a tool for conducting adequate monitoring activities
with the low resources available. In this context districts must increase sensitising
and training the communities on how to produce and submit detailed monthly and
quarterly reports. These will help the districts to get information about schemes
development without having to go physically to the villages. Again, there is need for
the districts to have monitoring indicators for measuring and comparing the
performance of the water projects across the districts. These indicators can be easily
administered in form of questionnaires divided to the villages to fill them and attach
them with reports. The questions may target to gather information about main
problematic areas like technical and financial issues.
89
5.3 Areas for Future Research
Various studies concerning rural water supply have been conducted and became
fundamental for the sectorial improvement. The study at hand attempted to analyze
the implementation of community based strategies (COWSOs) for sustainability of
rural water sector. Essentially, however rural water supply is a broad sector with
many research gaps and important lacking information. In this respect, the researches
on other different aspects can help shaping and enhancing the future improvement of
rural water management. From the foregoing, the following are the suggested areas
for further studies.
Assessing the performance of COWSOs at the scheme level. The current research
assessed the implementation of COWSO at the district level, but it is fundamental for
further assessment to be conducted at scheme level. The study might conduct the
situational analysis of the COWSOs performances at scheme (project) level. The
analysis will help to relate and examine how the challenges of rural water
management at district level can affect the actual practice at the local or scheme
level.
A study should be done on developing and testing the monitoring indicators that can
be used as a tool for collecting information about the development and performances
of schemes. This should involve developing monitoring indicators that can be in
form of simple questionnaire for community management entities to fill important
qualitative and quantitative information for district use.
90
Finally there should be conducted a study on comparative assessment of management
entities existing in rural water supply. The equal sample of different projects
managed with different management entities (COWSOS, private operators and
Village Water Committee) can be drawn and assessed to find which management
entity is performing better.
91
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Key informant questionnaire
Section 1: Questions on water projects and existing management entities at the
district:
1. Name of the district………………………………………………………….
2. Particulars of interviewees…………………(age, sex,education level)
3. How many water schemes do you have in your district…………….?
4. Which management entities do run them? (put a tick in all that applies)
a) Water Authorities ( )
b) COWSOs ( )
c) Private Operator ( )
d) Village Water Committee ( )
e) Others ( ) specify……………………..
5. How many water schemes are managed by each entity? (in number)
a) Water Authorities…………………
b) COWSOs……………………
c) Private Operator …………………
d) Village water committee …………….
e) Others ……………………..
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6. How many registered COWSOs do exist in your district? ……………
7. Do you have COWSOs that are operative but are unregistered?
a) Yes…….
b) No……….
7(a) if Yes ? Why?.................
8. How many COWSOs are there in your district with uncompleted registration
and not which are operative do exist in your district…………..?
9. How many COWSOs did you plan to register last year
(2014/2015)…………..?
10. How many COWSOs did you register last year (2014/2015)………….?
11. How many COWSOs are you planning to register this year
(2015/2016)…………?
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Section 2: Questions on process of COWSOs establishment & registration
1. What are the steps to be followed for establishing a COWSO at the district
level?...............
2. On average, how many days do you need to establish and register a
COWSO…………….?
3. What is the average amount of money needed for registration of a
COWSO…………..?
4. Do you have any guidelines for COWSOs formation & registration
procedure?
a) Yes …………
b) No ……………..
5. What is the total budget of water department in your district this
year?...............
6. What is the amount of the budget line for COWSOs activities this year?
………………
7. Can you re-allocate the funds for COWSOs for other activities?
a) Yes
b) No
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8. What are the strategies /incentives to accelerate COWSOs formation &
registration?
a) Training and facilitation of staffs
b) Raising awareness of stakeholders
c) Propose assistance from Donors
d) Training and monitoring COWSOs
e) Other (specify)…………………….
9. Are the district water departments involve in election/selection of COWSO
members?
a) Yes
b) No
10. How do you facilitate the process of election/selection of members of
COWSO?
a) Deploying officers to facilitate the process
b) Providing templates and guideline
c) Providing criteria for leaders selection
d) Others…. (Specify)…………………..
11. Who is responsible for drafting schemes management contracts?
a) District legal officer(DLO)
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b) DWE and DLO
c) VG and DWE
d) CWST
e) Others (specify)……………………..
12. Do you have any by-law concerning water supply?
a. Yes ………..(provide examples)
b. No …………..
13. Do you have the following documents? (put a tick in each of the appropriate
answer)
a) National Rural Water Sustainability Strategy? ( )
b) Water supply and sanitation Act. 12 of 2009? ( )
c) WSDP II ?( )
d) NAWAPO ?( )
e) Other (specify ....................)
14. What are the problems hindering the process of establishment and registration
of COWSOs
15. What are the types of COWSOs found in your district? (put a tick in all that
applies)
a) Water Consumer Associations, ( )
100
b) Cooperatives, ( )
c) Board of trustees, ( )
d) Non-Governmental Organisations,
e) Companies, ( )
f) Others: specify………….?
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Section 3: Questions on Private sector involvement in rural water supply
management system:
1. How many Private Operators (PO) are managing water schemes in your
district?............
2. How many private operators (PO) signed a contract?......................
3. What are their roles? (put a tick in each of the appropriate answer)
a) Manages and runs water services ( )
b) Operation and maintenance ( )
c) Technical assistance ( )
d) Collecting water fees ( )
e) Other (specify)…………………….
4. Is the district involved in the selection of POs?
a) Yes
b) No
4(b) if yes how……………..?
5. What is the role of the department concerning the contracts?
a) Drafting contracts
b) Modifying
c) Approval and Countersigning
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d) Others (specify)…………………….
6. What are the strong points and weak points in the signed contracts?
……………..
7. What are your suggestions to be included the contracts to strengthen the
functioning and supervision of water management...................
8. Did you receive any advice/directive from the government on private
operators?
a) Yes …………..
b) No ………….
9. How you can compare the performance of water schemes run by POs to other
management entities?
a. Much better ( )
b. Better ( )
c. Equal ( )
d. Worse ( )
e. worst ( )
10. How can the POs complement the work of COWSOs for sustainable water
supply? ……………….
11. List the advantages and disadvantages of water schemes managed by PO
over other entities
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12. …………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
13. Which kinds of services could be supplied by the private sector in a profitable
manner?
a) Store and sell Spare parts ( )
b) Installation of bore holes ( )
c) Consultancy on technical issues ( )
d) Operational and maintenance ( )
e) Other (specify)…………………..
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Section 3. Questions on Monitoring and Supervision practises done by districts to
water schemes.
1. What type of monitoring & supervision do you do?
a) Field monitoring ( )
b) By contacting the schemes ( )
c) Others (specify)……………..
2. On which bases do you do the monitoring & supervision of the schemes?
a) Periodically according to the plan ( )
b) Emergence basis when the scheme requested ( )
c) Others (specify)
3. Which kind of support do you provide to the water schemes?
a) Technical support ( )
b) Financial support ( )
c) Loans ( )
d) Others (specify…………)
4. Do you have a specific budget line for monitoring & supervision of water
schemes?
a) Yes ………
b) No ……
105
5. Which are the indicators that show good management of the water schemes
(at least three indicators)?
6. What are your strategies to improve the performances of water
schemes?..........
7. Do you have a monitoring plan?
a) Yes ………
b) No …….
8. How would you improve your supervision on entities' financial
management?.............
9. Do management entities submit monthly reports to you?
a) Yes ………..
b) No …………..
50(b) If not why?........................................
10. Do you have a standard format for the monthly reports?
a) Yes…….
b) No ………
11. What is the percentage of reports do you receive on average per month...
106
12. Do you consolidate management entities’ monthly reports in order to submit
them to the Regional Secretariats and to the Ministry?
a) Yes……………..
b) No ………………….
107
Appendix 2: Interview guide for Key Informants
i. Particulars of respondents (names. occupation, age, sex,education level)
ii. Number of water projects and type of management
iii. COWSOs existence at the district
iv. Planning and registration trend from the past few years?
v. Resources and role of district to implementation COWSO strategy
vi. Support and directives from central government
vii. Achievement, challenges of registration process.
viii. Involvement and role of POs to water management
ix. Role of districts in selecting POs
x. Support and directives from central government on involving POs
xi. Performance of POs compared to other existing management system
xii. Monitoring plans, budget, achievement and challenges
xiii. Monitoring tools/indicators in measuring performance of water projects
xiv. Strategy to improve management system
xv. Communication and consolidation of reports to the ministry.
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Appendix 3: Focus Group Discussion guide
i. Particulars of respondents (names. occupation, age,sex,education level)
ii. Situation of water management in the district
iii. Status of registration process and position of COWSOs at the district level
iv. Position of the district in executing the strategy
v. Involvement of POs in rural water supply
vi. Monitoring plans, budget, achievement and challenges
vii. Dissemination of information about development of water projects.
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Appendix 4. Research permits
110
