Africa
At the 7th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium, held in Lilongwe, Malawi from 1-3 November 2006, the MUS project hosted a special session on multiple uses of water. A background paper to the session was prepared. This paper introduces the mus concept and its framework. It goes into detail on the relevance of mus for the SADC region, specially looking into issues of relevance for researchers. A short report of the session is also available.
H. Holtslag & W. Mgina: Reducing the cost of water using smart technologies
To increase rural water supply in Africa, hand piston pumps were widely disseminated in the 1980s. After technical improvements, the focus shifted from technology to the so called VLOM approach (Village Level Operation and Maintenance management) but still 20 - 50% of the hand pumps in sub-Saharan countries are not working at any given time. A major reason seems the lack of capacity of the users to manage the maintenance, and although hand piston pumps are relatively simple it seems that in many cases they are still “hi tech” for the target group. “Lo-Tech” pumps or so called Appropriate Technologies (AT) also often fail because they are not efficient or not accepted because of their “stone age” image. Another reason is the lack of the involvement of the local private enterprises in production, sales and maintenance. When the projects finish, the activities often stop because local production, quality control, sales and marketing (supply chain) are not developed. [authors abstract]
Jean-Marc Faurès, Guido Santini & Audrey Nepveu de Villemarceau: A livelihood approach to water interventions in rural areas and implications for Multiple Use Systems
Among all constraints to development, water has been systematically highlighted as one of the most important challenges to rural poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Highly variable and erratic precipitations, poor development of hydraulic infrastructure and markets, and lack of access to water for domestic and productive uses, all contribute to maintaining high the vulnerability of rural people in the region. Through a recent study, FAO and IFAD have been investigating the linkage between water and rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The study argues that there are ample opportunities to invest in water in support to rural livelihoods in the region, but that interventions must be targeted adequately. The key word is “context-specificity”, and the main challenge is to understand where and how to invest. A comprehensive approach is needed, where investments in infrastructure are matched with interventions in institutions, knowledge and finance in ways that offer an opportunity to get the best return in terms of poverty reduction, and taking into account the extreme heterogeneity of situations faced by rural people over the region. Multiple use systems (MUS) are important in this context as infrastructure systems better address people’s need than sectoral water development programmes. The paper presents the main results of the study with special emphasis on the potential of investments in multiple use systems in the different livelihood zones of sub-Saharan Africa. [authors abstract]
