An assessment of the community ownership and management approach to community participation in the sustainable supply of potable water in rural communities in Ghana: a study of two communities
| dc.contributor.author | Akanbang, Bernard Afiik Akanpabadai | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-11-13T23:31:21Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-04-19T06:07:54Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2011-11-13T23:31:21Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-04-19T06:07:54Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2005-11-13 | |
| dc.description | A Thesis submitted to the Board of Post Graduate Studies of the Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Planning, 2005 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The idea of community participation in development has long been recognized as key to achieving meaningful and sustainable development. Community participation has, for instance been recognised among others as critical to ensuring sustainability in water supplies and the realisation of the MDGs and progress on poverty reduction. However, the need to establish and understand the prerequisites and impacts of participatory development approaches has never been greater, even though there has been increases in the number of organisations and projects that solicit community involvement and CP literature in the last decade. This study examines the community ownership and management (COM) approach to community participation (CP) as a viable alternative to the sustainable supply of potable water in rural communities as a contribution to knowledge on CP and sustainable and equitable development. The case study method involving interviewing, document analysis, and observation was used as the means of investigation. Specific analytical techniques such as creating matrices of categories, the use of pie charts, histograms, tables and pictures were used. The objective model of community participation in line with the project based approach to development provided the theoretical framework for the conduct of the study. The study concludes that the COM approach to community participation is an effective way of involving communities in what concerns their daily livelihood especially in small rural communities. For the assurance of sustainability of rural water systems, however, the study notes the importance of on-going support to communities in the form of monitoring, retraining, conflict resolution among others. The study observed that, the training component of COM enhances communities’ financial mobilisation skills and increases community group activities. Communities also institute management schemes such as regular cleaning of pump sites and byelaws to guarantee sustainability in the use of water facilities. The use of local decision-making processes and leadership structures enhances meaningful involvement of community members and engenders high sense of ownership in participatory projects. However, general weak managerial and technical capacity, weak and politicised WSDB, inadequate legal autonomy of the Board, unclear definition of responsibility over capacity building and the maintenance of good quality human resources affect the optimal operations of the small towns’ systems. Irregular internal and external audits of accounts, inadequate financial transparency and accountability, inadequate consideration for capital investment arrangement and cost recovery, and unclear and non-functioning communication with the community of users including the nonpayment of bills by public institutions undermine the sustainability of the WSDBs. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | KNUST | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/1760 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | 3905; | |
| dc.title | An assessment of the community ownership and management approach to community participation in the sustainable supply of potable water in rural communities in Ghana: a study of two communities | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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