A Hidden Crisis: unravelling current failures for future success in rural groundwater supply
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Planned Impact
Our research project tackles one of the most pressing and under-researched areas within the African water sector: why do so many groundwater based rural water supplies fail within a short space of time, and what steps can be made in designing new water points to increase their sustainability? The ultimate beneficiaries of this research are the rural people within Africa who currently use unreliable shared water points and the estimated 300-400 million people who still have no access to improved water services. Given the high rates of source failure (30-40%), the research has the potential to make a major impact on the sector. Increased sustainability of water supplies will enable the benefits of improved health, nutrition, education opportunities, safety/dignity and livelihood security, to accrue within communities, rather than being repeatedly lost in cycles of supply failure. This is essential for long-term development and will particularly benefit women and children who bear the brunt of water collection.
There are a number of intermediary beneficiaries and direct users of the research who can directly use the new knowledge and techniques (1) multi-lateral agencies and donors with both regional and country-specific 'support' and funding mandates (e.g. WSP, DFID); (2) government ministries, departments and development partners (including NGOs) at national and regional level involved in the design of guidelines and policies; (3)implementing agencies, such as local government, NGOs and private sector actors, that develop and backstop rural water supply infrastructure (e.g. drilling companies); (4) the academic community, who can build on the detailed interdisciplinary research and data generated.
Donors and multinational agencies. The research outcomes will particularly help in mapping trajectories to targets such as the proposed new Sustainable Development Goals. Our research with more nuanced definitions of functional water points and the forecasting of future functionality under various scenarios will be of particular benefit.
Government Departments and national NGOs. This group set national policy and standards and mechanisms for monitoring. The research outcomes will help define the combination of factors that lead to water source failure, or success, and also propose a strategy for increasing the potential for rural water supply service to remain functional. This group will be engaged in the project from the outset by the strong links WaterAid and our Africa academic partners have with national government and regional stakeholders (e.g. AMCOW; Ethiopia's Water Sector Advisory Group). A wider international community of government, NGO and water industry stakeholders will be engaged through forums such as World Water Week.
Local government, NGOs and Practitioners. These are the people that actually commission, site and drill boreholes, install handpumps, mobilise communities and set up water user groups. The research will equip this group with investigative techniques, and knowledge of which factors are critical in different areas to long term sustainability. This group will take part in the country research programmes, and we will publish a comprehensive manual targeted at this group and online resources.
Research community: There is currently no comprehensive interdisciplinary dataset providing a post construction audit of rural water supplies. The research will deliver an innovative research methodology, and dataset, relating to functionality, governance, institutional functioning and groundwater resources. The research will be disseminated to international community through several, potentially benchmark, papers in high impact journals, and international conferences providing cutting edge of thinking about hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, and understanding of African groundwater. Long-term open access to the new dataset will enable future comparative and longitudinal work.
There are a number of intermediary beneficiaries and direct users of the research who can directly use the new knowledge and techniques (1) multi-lateral agencies and donors with both regional and country-specific 'support' and funding mandates (e.g. WSP, DFID); (2) government ministries, departments and development partners (including NGOs) at national and regional level involved in the design of guidelines and policies; (3)implementing agencies, such as local government, NGOs and private sector actors, that develop and backstop rural water supply infrastructure (e.g. drilling companies); (4) the academic community, who can build on the detailed interdisciplinary research and data generated.
Donors and multinational agencies. The research outcomes will particularly help in mapping trajectories to targets such as the proposed new Sustainable Development Goals. Our research with more nuanced definitions of functional water points and the forecasting of future functionality under various scenarios will be of particular benefit.
Government Departments and national NGOs. This group set national policy and standards and mechanisms for monitoring. The research outcomes will help define the combination of factors that lead to water source failure, or success, and also propose a strategy for increasing the potential for rural water supply service to remain functional. This group will be engaged in the project from the outset by the strong links WaterAid and our Africa academic partners have with national government and regional stakeholders (e.g. AMCOW; Ethiopia's Water Sector Advisory Group). A wider international community of government, NGO and water industry stakeholders will be engaged through forums such as World Water Week.
Local government, NGOs and Practitioners. These are the people that actually commission, site and drill boreholes, install handpumps, mobilise communities and set up water user groups. The research will equip this group with investigative techniques, and knowledge of which factors are critical in different areas to long term sustainability. This group will take part in the country research programmes, and we will publish a comprehensive manual targeted at this group and online resources.
Research community: There is currently no comprehensive interdisciplinary dataset providing a post construction audit of rural water supplies. The research will deliver an innovative research methodology, and dataset, relating to functionality, governance, institutional functioning and groundwater resources. The research will be disseminated to international community through several, potentially benchmark, papers in high impact journals, and international conferences providing cutting edge of thinking about hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, and understanding of African groundwater. Long-term open access to the new dataset will enable future comparative and longitudinal work.
People |
ORCID iD |
Frances Cleaver (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Cleaver F
(2018)
Understanding process, power, and meaning in adaptive governance: a critical institutional reading
in Ecology and Society
Cleaver F
(2018)
Water Justice
Cleaver F D
(2018)
Water Justice
Frances Cleaver
(2021)
Worldviews and the everyday politics of water management
in Water Alternatives
Venot J
(2021)
A bridge over troubled waters
in Nature Sustainability
Whaley L
(2021)
Corrigendum to "Flesh and bones: Working with the grain to improve community management of water" [World Dev. 138 (2020) 105286]
in World Development
Whaley L
(2018)
The Critical Institutional Analysis and Development (CIAD) Framework
in International Journal of the Commons
Whaley L
(2019)
Evidence, ideology, and the policy of community management in Africa
in Environmental Research Letters
Whaley L
(2017)
Can 'functionality' save the community management model of rural water supply?
in Water Resources and Rural Development
Whaley L
(2021)
Flesh and bones: Working with the grain to improve community management of water
in World Development
Description | Findings submitted in previous submission to ResearchFish |
Exploitation Route | Further work on community involvement in sustainability initiatives. See for example links to Belmont Forum Transformations to Groundwater Sustainability project. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Environment Healthcare Other |
URL | https://upgro.org/consortium/hidden-crisis2/ |
Description | We have worked closely with WaterAid and with the Ministries on Water in Malawi, Ethiopia and Uganda to ensure that the findings are taken into policy considerations. Also our partnerships with universities in each country ensure that the findings are taken into the training of water sector professionals. Findings are being taken to a higher level through AMCOW - ( African Ministers Council on Water) |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Other |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | GCRF Fellowship |
Amount | £120,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2019 |
End | 06/2021 |
Description | Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures PhD scholarship: How policy travels through people: understanding the values and practices of actors in a water governance |
Amount | £106,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Department | Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2016 |
End | 08/2020 |
Description | LEMU, Uganda |
Organisation | Land Portal Foundation |
Department | Land Equity Movement of Uganda |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Testing and enrichment of research findings |
Collaborator Contribution | See above |
Impact | Ongoing |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Makerere University |
Organisation | Makerere University |
Country | Uganda |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Deepening the interpretations of the research findings. Formulating a follow -on project to further investigate particular aspects of the findings. |
Collaborator Contribution | See above |
Impact | New research project 'The politics of believing: understanding how worldviews shape access to land and water in rural Uganda - 20k - June 2019 - June 2021' undertaken by Luke Whaley in collaboration with the Department of Development Studies and the Department of Performing Arts and Film at Makerere university |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | WaterAid |
Organisation | WaterAid |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | WaterAid were in-field collaborators organising some of the logistics of the field research. They also facilitated links to government departments in the three countries |
Collaborator Contribution | See above WaterAid were in-field collaborators organising some of the logistics of the field research. They also facilitated links to government departments in the three countries |
Impact | Outputs still in process |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | AFWA 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Afrcian Water association - Largest water conference in Africa - academics, practitioners, policy makers and business. This year in Kampala under the theme 'breaking new ground: accelerating access to water and sanitation for all'. UPGRO basically had its own stream one of the conference venues, and Hidden Crisis well represented in a number of sessions. https://www.afwa2020.org/index.php/en/ Bring together a diverse range of practitioners, scientists, development partners and industry representatives, working across different areas of water and sanitation sector across the world. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Dissemination workshop at Budaka District |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The district-level workshop (Budaka district, Eastern Uganda) was informed by the findings coming out of all three phases of the Hidden Crisis project. The session both fed back key findings and insights and elicited discussion between participants on these findings. It was an important knowledge exchange and awareness-raising event that was well received by attendees from different departments at the district level ( District level officers for Water, Community Development, Planning etc). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Groundwater and Equity: Exploring barriers to access to water in the global south |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Webinar organised by International waTERS Network http://icgc.umn.edu/collaborations/international-partnerships/partnership-university-british-columbia/international https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Pn1G7siu0 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Pn1G7siu0 |
Description | Social science methods webinar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | social science methods webinar to share the UPGRO social science methods and approaches within the consortium and wider academic and practitioner community. Recorded UPGRO social science webinar. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | The borehole is not a madman |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Blogpost to "The Borehole is not a Madman": 3 reasons why Community Based Management demands a rethink, Blogpost for Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) a global network for rural water supply professionals, with 10,000 members in more than 150 countries. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://rwsn.blog/2018/03/05/the-borehole-is-not-a-madman/ |
Description | Webinar for Rural Water supply Network |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Webinar for Rural Water supply Network 10th April 2018 Debating real-world community based management of water |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://vimeo.com/264232221 |
Description | Workshop in Uganda to identifypathways for taking research forward beyond the Hidden Crisis project |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This was a pre-project workshop for upcoming research that follows on from Hidden Crisis project findings. The aims of the workshop were to 1) Ground-truth the research concept and overall design with potential partners, 2) Discuss the relevance of the project impact strategy, 3) Identify respective partners, their contributions, and any logistical requirements. Attendees included representatives from the Ministry of Water and Environment, the Land and Equity Movement of Uganda, WaterAid Uganda, and Makerere staff in the Department of Development Studies and Department of Performing Arts and Film. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |