| Notes From the Field | |
Water and Participatory Governance in Senegal
(Story courtesy of Global Waters - James Hutchins, by D. Davis)
 | | Photo Credit: J. Graham USAID |
As in many West Africa countries, the availability of water governs the conditions of life for Senegal's rural population. A harsh climate and uncertain rainfall threaten food security and drive rural-urban migration, which further decreases food production while overburdening water and sanitation infrastructure and worsening social conditions. For years, these conditions have trapped the population in a cycle of poverty and disease. This has been particularly true in the Casamance region, in the southwest corner of the country, where a longstanding, low-level conflict has resulted in the destruction of the rural water and sanitation infrastructure and left the population dependent on scarce and unsafe water sources and few improved sanitation facilities. Recognizing that inadequate water and sanitation are major barriers to growth, the Government of Senegal is focusing on meeting the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation as a key part of its poverty reduction and economic development plan. In 2005, the government decreed a $1 billion program, which is known by its French acronym PEPAM. "When you're trying to address water and sanitation in rural areas," said Aaron Brownell, who manages USAID's water sector activities in Senegal, "you're looking at a lot of interrelated issues. The most serious challenges," he stated, "include sector governance and ones related to the sustainability of access." "Governance in the rural sector is fragmented," Brownell noted, "and the population has little to say about how services are allocated." PEPAM is building the population's capacity for participatory governance by empowering women to take leadership roles in community life; strengthening communities' capacity to cooperatively manage water resources and sanitation systems; and developing shared information systems. The creation of these shared systems is also supporting efforts to reduce the risk of water-related conflict. Rural water and sanitation systems tend to deteriorate after a few years because of the lack of maintenance. To ensure sustainable access, the population needs to have the training, resources, and organization of responsibilities to keep the systems working on a permanent basis. The program is based on four interrelated and mutually reinforcing principles: - Strengthen participatory governance and support community-level infrastructure planning, management, installation, and maintenance;
- Increase the demand for sustainable water sanitation and hygiene services and products by promoting appropriate low-cost systems that ensure a hygienic environment, and improving the sanitary and hygiene behaviors identified as critical by the community;
- Strengthen the capacity of small-scale service providers and water users associations (WUAs) to respond to the demand for improved water and sanitation services;
- Encourage private sector involvement in the installation and rehabilitation of water and sanitation infrastructure.
These principles are aligned with the Government of Senegal's goal of achieving sustainable water and sanitation access through participatory planningWith USAID support, Ziguinchor will soon be the first region in Senegal to have local water and sanitation plans for all of its rural communities. USAID's emphasis on participatory governance of the water and sanitation sector, as well as sustainable access, has helped the people of the Casamance believe their situation is improving. The openings of new water points and sanitation facilities in their conflict-ridden communities were once an occasion for skepticism. They are now an occasion for dancing. |
Discussion Spotlight
|
Here are some of the issues FRAMEweb members are talking about:Fisheries - Linking Food Security & Marine Protected Areas?
 | | Photo: UNESCO |
I have a question about marine protected areas (MPAs) and food security. As we're seeing around the world, MPAs are being used more and more for fisheries management purposes (i.e. supporting the spillover of fish from protected areas into fishable waters). Though more data certainly needs to be collected on spillover, I'm curious - what do people think the challenges and opportunities are in explicitly connecting MPAs to food security objectives? Does anyone know of programs that already making this linkage? Are there any good journal articles, case studies, or reports out there that you can recommend? Thanks in advance for your thoughts! Click here to share your ideas or resources. CBNRM - How can coordination of CBNRM activities and initiatives be improved?Workshop participants noted overlapping and contradictory CBNRM efforts, especially those implemented by a range of NGOs. What is the best way to promote harmonious and coordinated approaches? Linked to this is the issue of sustaining coordination. Coordination bodies have operating costs. How can these costs be covered? Click here to join the discussion.
Food Security (from Webinar) -What steps would you suggest to raise the profile of wild foods within national strategies that focus on food security, climate change, and rural economic growth?I would like to follow up by getting your opinions on approaches to mainstreaming wild foods within national development strategies. You were very clear that there is a large demand for wild foods and that many generate substantial revenues. You were also clear that marketing wild foods has been a means for women and other disadvantaged groups to move out of poverty and up the economic ladder. And, you noted that wild foods reduced the vulnerability of rural populations to climatic and market shocks. However, with all of these potential benefits--many of them that would help countries make progress against Millennium Challenge Goals--wild crops are often marginalized in national strategies and donors' portfolios. Consequently, there is very little attention paid to strengthening wild food value chains or reforming policies that would convey more authority (and responsibility) to local populations.Food Security (from Webinar) - How do you deal with the unpredictability of wild foods?Unpredictable in the sense that they are usually found in small quantity, dispersed across a landscape and are not conventionally owned.
Do you have a question or comment you want to post on FRAMEweb? Sign-in, click on a Community Topic or Partner Page and click on the Ask icon. Need help, send us an e-mail and we will walk you through it!
|
| Take A Look |
Expand your knowledge on wildlife conservation and management with these diverse resources.  Global Waters Newsletter Global Waters is an e-magazine dedicated to the broad portfolio of water-related activities of the United States Agency for International Development. Through this quarterly publication, many challenges, opportunities, approaches, and lessons learned are shared that reflect upon USAID programming. Each issue spotlight's the work of implementing partners and highlights the more intimate stories of how the Agency's work directly affects individuals, families, and communities worldwide.Click to access the recent issue of Global Waters. To subcribe to Global Waters:http://www.usaid.gov/cgi-bin/listserv.cgi 
Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Water Challenge - Advocacy guide and actionhandbook
Developed for the United Nationals - Water team as an advocacy guide for the World Water Day 2011, this tool provides information in three core areas: Learning, Action, and Sharing. The aim is to communicate messages about five key aspects (sub-themes): urbanization, sanitation and pollution, governance and management, investment and finance, and environmental impact and climate change. To read the guide, click here.
USAID Cambodia Water Investment Video  | | Click here to watch video |
This short (10 minute) video details how USAID funded permanent household connections so more than 15,000 families have access to safe, clean drinking water. The project was managed by the USAID Cambodia Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Project. Individuals explain how the expanded access to drinking water allowed entrepreneurs to open and maintain businesses. To watch the video, click here. |
Experts on FRAMEweb
| 
Find a water specialist on FRAMEweb.
Log-in to FRAMEweb and click on the link below to find over 70 experts on FRAMEweb related to Disaster. Note: you won't see the results until you are logged in!
|
|
Featured Member!
|
 Featured Member FRAMEgram features a member in the newsletter who has been exceptionally active! This section will also give you a chance to learn more about other FRAMEweb members. This Edition's Featured Member is...  Ian Manning* - Independent professional wildlifer and writer My general goal is to continue to develop an 'alternative way' for wildlife conservation and villager livelihoods improvement that draws on indigenous culture and experience: 'to a world of self realization in service to others, to institutional arrangements based in some sense of common interests, to technological and organisational innovations orientated to the pursuit of the common good'. I developed the Landsafe socio-ecological development model for the customary commons and associated protected areas of Zambia. This model is based on the formation of chiefdom statutory trusts, with trustees elected by villagers of the customary commons; and the signing of co-management agreements with government departments in respect of wildlife, Game Management Areas, and protected forest land, fisheries and water. Over the last nine years, as a certified investor, I and my family have been implementing Landsafe in two contiguous chiefdoms in the Luangwa Valley. I was deported for opposing the illegal alienation of customary and protected land, and for opposing the criminal ivory and bushmeat trade. Framework is a remarkable effort at synthesizing knowledge and making it available. Our loss is that we do not access it enough. * To see Ian's profile, login at the prompt when you click his name.
|
|
In this edition of FRAMEgram, the focus is on the importance of water, from the power it can play in governance, to urban water challenges, and successes in Senegal and Cambodia.
