Annex 1
ELIMINATING WORLD POVERTY: A CONSULTATION
DOCUMENT
SECURING PRO-POOR
WATER GOVERNANCE
We consider that improving access to water should
have a significant place in the White Paper because this can (1)
secure multiple benefits to the poor and (2) provide an entry
point for promoting wider good governance arrangements.
1. Multiple benefits of improved water access
Improving access to water is likely to secure
interlinked benefits. Achieving these benefits is also a pre-condition
of attaining other developmental goals such as increased girls'
school enrolment and elimination of hunger:
— Health (reductions in infant mortality,
morbidity and stunting, avoidance of the physiological damage
incurred by water carrying, especially to girls).
— Livelihoods (release of time spent
queuing/carrying water, increased income generation potential
through irrigated crops, gardens and small enterprises, increased
food security).
— Environmental (reduction of degradation/depletion
of resources, preservation of fragile environments, maintenance
of productive ecosystems).
2. Water as an entry point for good governance
Water is a basic need and integral to many aspects
of people's lives. Therefore attention to securing equitable water
governance provides a good entry point for impacting on pro-poor
governance arrangements more generally. Critically, improved water
governance can increase the voice and representation of the poor,
and help to secure more equitable distribution of resources.
A body of recent research ( http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/bcid/seminar/water)
suggests that pro-poor water governance can be secured through
better understandings of:
— The context specific micro-meso level
arrangements for accessing water (what does good water governance
mean at the local level?)
— How micro-meso level institutions
can be supported to promote equitable arrangements for water access.
— The combination of strategies
needed to secure effective voice/representation of poor people
in water governance.
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