Institutional Support

Introduction 

Governance is the central issue for water resources management, especially in the light of water scarcity, poor water quality (including geogenic contamination, such as high arsenic and fluoride concentrations in drinking water) and climate change. Threats to effective water quality management and risk reduction include, among many others, institutional inability and low priority given to water quality in terms of investment in infrastructure and maintenance.

Lack of good governance is one of the common problems faced with developing countries to effectively deal with geogenic contamination in drinking water. There is generally a lack of know-how and institutional "strength", as well as the involvement of stakeholders in decision making. This has limited the ability of the country and community concerned to adopt appropriate mitigation measures to reduce the risk to human health of geogenic contamination. Lack of good quality information on stakeholders’ preference and willingness to pay for different mitigation measures also presents an obstacle for searching and implementing effective and sustainable mitigation alternatives. 

Objectives:

At the organisation/policy level:

• Find out stakeholders’ interests and conflicts regarding adoption of different mitigation options

• Possible approaches to reduce conflicts and enhance synergy

At the household level (end users)

• Find out household socio-economic conditions and willingness to pay for different mitigation measures

• Affordability (willingness to pay and willingness to walk for a distance to fetch water)

• Accessibility (to safe water sources, equipments, replacement, institutional supports)

Click here for an introduction to the techniques applied in institutional analysis