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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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New Management Models: Local Responses, Practices and Strategies in the Urban Water Sector. The Case of Uganda
| Panel |
32. Water in Africa: policies, politics and practices. National and local appropriation of global management models and paradigms
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| Paper ID | 510 |
| Author(s) |
Appelblad, Jenny
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Cities and urban areas in Africa are generally growing faster than anywhere else, and will continue to do so, putting higher pressure not only on local water resources, but also on public service systems. In responding to these challenges, national governments, development partners and international institutions are promoting new management models, techniques and practices. In numerous African countries, institutional reforms are implemented in the water sector; in which key elements include various forms of decentralising management, stronger emphasis on performance outputs and customer orientation. In many developing countries, sector development and public service reforms have been driven more by external pressures, largely determined by shifts in international policy trends, rather than by local strategies. The new models are inducing changes, not only in existing local institutions, but also in the ways in which public services are being delivered, and a number of new management arrangements can today be found along the public-private continuum.
With empirical reference to the Ugandan water sector, this paper shows how decentralised management models and new partnership arrangements are transforming the urban water sector, the institutional set-up, and the relations within it. The paper illustrates how the current diversification of actors involved in the provision of water services is giving rise to new contradictions and conflicts. It also addresses how, in response to the changes, local initiatives and strategies are emerging. The Ugandan urban water sector has undergone extensive reforms and changes in the last years. The Public Utility is widely regarded as a success-story, as it has managed to considerably improve performance and increase service coverage. However, despite these achievements, there are institutional and other problems whose persistence may hamper the development and constitute threats to the sustainability of the sector. The public utility is delivering water services in large and medium-sized urban areas, through a model of IDAMC- Internally Delegated Area Management Contracts, a form of Public-Public Partnerships. However, in the next two years, these will be opened up, to competition from the private sector. In the smaller urban centres, not falling under the public utility, small-scale private operators are delivering water services, contracted by the local governments. These small-scale operators are fighting for their survival and are now organised into a national association, to have a common voice and develop strategies to stay in business, and grow stronger. The paper will discuss the relations between the national public utility and the small-scale private operators, as well as the relations between the latter and the local government.
The empirical material is based on interviews with small-scale private operators, with managers and officials at the public utility, and officials at various government institutions, including local government, as well as various other relevant actors.
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