Public Models of Drinking Water Supply and sanitation in Rural Areas

Event
Event

Speaker(s)

Water Justice

Taking advantage of the fact that people from around the world who have been actively working on rural water issues will be present in Southern Europe in the end of November, it was proposed to have a kick-off meeting to start a discussion within RPW network on these important issues.

The preliminary objective of the seminar is to identify the challenges of reforms and democratisation of public models of drinking water supply and sanitation in rural areas, in the regions of Latin America, South and South East Asia, and Africa. Furthermore, we expect to establish work relations and ongoing work amongst the participants and to create a network of people on rural water.

Key questions include:

  1. The nature of the challenge in drinking water supply and sanitation in rural areas and the relationship between urban, rural and peri-urban: key similarities and differences
  2. What does `public´ mean in rural areas?
  3. Non-privatised/non-commercialised, community-run, which role for public utilities? Democratisation within the community and utility. The role of the community and the professionals of water. Water management from an ecosystemic point of view (also quality).
  4. Review of institutions and mainstream approaches to rural water, including those of international, national donor agencies and IFI's. Change management and institutional transformation. Structural changes in rural drinking water systems over the last 15 years (from water providers - professionals) to water facilitators) Building a water governance in rural areas. Creation of spaces/institutions for the participation and control between rural communities, municipalities and in the planning and regulation of water.
  5. Policy shifts in pricing / tariff. Economic management models: recovery cost, cross policy subsidies, solidarity mechanism. Initial investments, the availability of funds to improve public rural public management.
  6. Relationship between productive uses and human uses in rural areas. Commercialisation in rural areas causes this type of conflict, more than the privatization public utilities.

As a possible follow-up from the seminar, a discussion paper with an overview of insights and experiences could be written and published.

Seminar programme(236 Kb)