Institutional pluralism and water user behavior in rural Africa

Johanna Koehler*, Patrick Thomson, Susanna Goodall, Jacob Katuva, Rob Hope

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goal of providing everyone with safe and reliable drinking water services combines a moral imperative with an entrepreneurial opportunity. We examine water user behavior in the face of institutional change brought about by a professional service provider maintaining rural water infrastructure in Kenya. We ask (1) which factors are associated with households and waterpoint user groups contracting a service provider that guarantees rapid repairs; (2) how do factors vary between different management cultures defined by cultural theory of risk; and (3) can the professional service provider address the risk factors? By applying the cultural theory of risk framework, we capture the institutional diversity of community, public, private and failed management on the ground in dealing with operational, financial, institutional and environmental risks. To identify the factors associated with institutional change towards a pluralist arrangement – enabled by the professional maintenance service provider incubated in rural Kenya – we model data from 1215 households at actively managed handpumps with sensor data from daily handpump usage and community responses to this entrepreneurial approach. The predictors of behavior change of rural water users to commit to the new service provider include organizational factors of managing payments, affordability, and operational factors such as distance and water quality, which vary in importance across the management cultures. This learning can be harnessed to reduce risk and inform future policy and practice. As professional maintenance services for rural water infrastructure are emerging across Africa, which promise to increase value for rural water users, government, and investors through performance-based contracts, it is important for policymakers and implementers to understand which factors predict shifts in institutional behavior by water users. This research recommends seeking cooperative solutions across systems, where current policy effectively separates communities from the state or markets.

Original languageEnglish
Article number105231
JournalWorld Development
Volume140
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2021

Funding

The authors are grateful to Government of Kenya staff in the National Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, the Water Sector Trust Fund, the Water Services Regulatory Board, Kwale County Government, as well as the team of 25 enumerators for their support for the study. Rural Focus Ltd (Kenya) supported the study logistics. The authors are deeply grateful to Professor Steve Rayner, who supported this work for several years. We are also grateful to Dr Paola Ballon, Dr Janina Steinert, Dr Stefania Innocenti, Dr Alexander Fischer, Dr Tim Foster, Dr Nina Doering, Dr Maximilian Zott, Patrick Moran, and Nancy Gladstone, who provided valuable comments for this article. The corresponding author is also extremely grateful for the valuable feedback received for this paper by the participants of the 9th Mary Douglas Seminar at University College London and the 2nd Sustainability and Development Conference at the University of Michigan. We also acknowledge financial support from the UPGro programme on ?Groundwater Risk Management for Growth and Development? (NE/M008894/1) funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the ?Mobile payment systems to reduce rural water risks in Africa? project (ES/N000137/1) funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, as well as the University of Oxford Global Challenges Research Fund QR funding. This document is also an output from the REACH programme funded by UK Aid from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the benefit of developing countries (Programme Code 201880). However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by FCDO, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them. We also acknowledge financial support from the UPGro programme on ‘Groundwater Risk Management for Growth and Development’ (NE/M008894/1) funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the ‘Mobile payment systems to reduce rural water risks in Africa’ project (ES/N000137/1) funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, as well as the University of Oxford Global Challenges Research Fund QR funding. This document is also an output from the REACH programme funded by UK Aid from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the benefit of developing countries (Programme Code 201880). However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by FCDO, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them.

FundersFunder number
Dr Nina Doering
Kwale County Government
National Ministry of Water
Water Sector Trust Fund
Water Services Regulatory Board
University of MichiganNE/M008894/1
Economic and Social Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
University College London
Oxford University
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office201880, ES/N000137/1

    Keywords

    • Cultural theory
    • Kenya
    • Professionalization
    • Risk
    • Rural water sustainability
    • Water user behavior

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