Doctoral Dissertation Research: Decentralization, Institutions, and Access to Potable Water in Peri-Urban Settlements

博士论文研究：城郊住区的权力下放、机构和饮用水获取

• 批准号: 1434203
• 负责人: Leo Zulu
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1434203&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Decentralization; Institutions

Scientists are increasingly interested in how rapid population growth and urbanization processes affect the provision of potable water, and finding creative strategies to ensure access to clean water, particularly in poor urban and peri-urban areas of rapidly urbanizing developing countries. Nearly 800 million people have no access to potable water globally. This study will examine whether decentralized community-based institutions can improve access to potable water in peri-urban areas while also promoting related social goals of participation, empowerment, and community development in developing countries. Investigators will examine the role and performance of community-based Water User Associations (WUAs) in providing water and broader social benefits. With centralized and public water-supply infrastructure and services overstretched in many countries, and privatization reforms often failing to enhance water access for the poor, some have recently turned attention to WUA approaches. Such approaches have traditionally been used in rural water supply, and little is known about the opportunities and constraints they offer for poor peri-urban areas. Findings from the study will inform evidence-based policies on community approaches as viable options for improving potable water access and development for impoverished communities in similar developing-country settings. The project will also advance understanding of how women, children, and other underrepresented groups are affected by poor access to water, and explore remedial actions for negative impacts. Through a case study in Lilongwe, the largest and fastest urbanizing city of Malawi, the investigators will use mixed quantitative and qualitative methods involving data from household surveys, key-informant interviews, focus groups, and secondary data analysis informed by an urban political ecology analytical framework, and reinforced with insights from common pool resources theory to answer the specific questions: (1) Have the functions of WUAs and the institutional arrangements they have adopted led to improved access to potable water in peri-urban areas? (2) Have WUAs, their institutional arrangements and modus operandi met social goals of local participation, empowerment, and broader community development? By integrating urban political ecology and common pool resources theory to examine the conditions that enable community approaches to effectively supply water and provide social benefits, the investigators will advance and enrich scholarly debates on the role of community-based approaches for peri-urban water supply and social development, the tradeoffs involved, and their policy implications.

科学家们对快速的人口增长和城市化进程如何影响饮用水的供应越来越感兴趣，并寻找创造性的策略来确保获得清洁水，特别是在快速城市化的发展中国家的贫穷城市和城郊地区。全球有近8亿人无法获得饮用水。本研究将审查分散的社区机构是否能够改善近郊地区的饮用水供应，同时促进发展中国家参与、赋权和社区发展的相关社会目标。调查人员将审查以社区为基础的用水户协会（WUAs）在提供水和更广泛的社会效益方面的作用和表现。由于许多国家集中的公共供水基础设施和服务不堪重负，而私有化改革往往无法增加穷人的用水，一些人最近将注意力转向用水户利用方法。这种方法传统上用于农村供水，人们对它们为贫穷的城郊地区提供的机会和限制知之甚少。这项研究的结果将为基于证据的社区方法政策提供信息，作为改善类似发展中国家贫困社区饮用水获取和发展的可行选择。该项目还将促进人们了解妇女、儿童和其他代表性不足的群体如何受到水供应不足的影响，并探索针对负面影响采取的补救行动。通过对马拉维最大和城市化速度最快的城市利隆圭的案例研究，研究人员将采用混合的定量和定性方法，包括来自家庭调查、关键信息提供者访谈、焦点小组和二级数据分析的数据，这些数据由城市政治生态分析框架提供，并辅以共同资源理论的见解来回答具体问题：(1)用水户协会的职能及其所采取的体制安排是否改善了近郊地区获得饮用水的机会？(2)用水户协会及其制度安排和运作方式是否符合当地参与、赋权和更广泛社区发展的社会目标？通过整合城市政治生态学和公共池资源理论来研究社区方法有效供水和提供社会效益的条件，研究者将推进和丰富关于社区方法在城市周边供水和社会发展中的作用、所涉及的权衡及其政策影响的学术辩论。