Community based collective action for safe water in rural sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper provides a review of collective action for safe water provision and management in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Water-related collective action is largely premised on norms of trust and reciprocity, institutional arrangements that prescribe and enforce appropriate rules and sanctions, and ecological threats and conditions that favour cooperation. A central argument of this paper is that while community based water management and collective action are important institutional mechanisms for achieving water security, researchers and practitioners need to pay attention to the social ingredients, ecological variables, and governance structures that easily render them ineffective and counterproductive for rural water provision and management. The critical role of the state, mainstreaming the human right to water, and addressing structural inequalities at all levels should form the foundation of rural water policies and programs.