Waiting for Miracles: The Commercialization of Urban Water Services in Zambia

Dagdeviren, Hulya

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00470.x

Cited by 47 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The technical reports considered (Ballance & Trémolet, 2005;Banerjee et al, 2008) find some correlation between financial and technical performances, and between cost recovery and access, but the evidence provided seems inconclusive. Finally, the qualitative studies reviewed (Bakker et al, 2008;Bayliss, 2011;Dagdeviren, 2008;Herrera, 2014;Jaglin, 2002) highlight the challenges that can prevent cost recovery and its translation into access, and also focus on the incentives for the actors.…”

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis For-mulation (A) Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The author identifies the distribution of costs on users as a possible, but still controversial way to reconcile the conflict. Dagdeviren (2008) focuses on the commercialization of urban water services in Zambia demonstrating the tension between cost recovery and service extension when water sector reforms combine a low level of public investment with price increases. The author concludes that in Zambia, as in other low-income economies, the aspirations for cost recovery in water supply services can be a means to increase the proportion of the population with access to safe water, but with an inappropriate policy mix, this policy can also lead to the opposite result of declining access rates.…”

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis For-mulation (A) Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ensuring Sustainable Access to Drinking Water in Sub Saharan Africa: Conflict Between Financial and Social Objectives

Marson¹,

Savin²

2015

World Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis For-mulation (A) Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesis For-mulation (A) Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Ensuring Sustainable Access to Drinking Water in Sub Saharan Africa: Conflict Between Financial and Social Objectives

Marson¹,

Savin²

2015

World Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Protestors also boycotted payment in Pretoria while in Durban, large crowds rallied in the water utility offi ces, holding 10-rand notes to symbolise the maximum amount they could afford to pay per month (Bakker 2010 ;Morgan 2011 ). In Lusaka, Zambia, price increases that doubled tariffs for middle-class users and more than quadrupled tariffs for low-income users became politically untenable when people protested, and the tariffs were soon reduced signifi cantly (Dagdeviren 2008 ).…”

Section: Challenges Of Managing Water Using Free-market Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free-Market Economics and Developmental Statism as Political Paradigms: Implications for Water Governance Theory and Practice in Developing Countries

Chikozho

Mapedza²

2016

Freshwater Governance for the 21st Century

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Key actors in various developing countries are often confronted by diffi cult choices when it comes to the selection and deployment of appropriate water governance regimes taking into account national socio-economic and political realities. Indeed, scholars and practitioners alike continue to grapple with the need to create the optimum water-supply and allocation decision-making space applicable to specifi c developing countries. This chapter uses case studies to explore the utility of free-market economics and developmental statism as two major paradigms that have emerged in the face of enduring questions about how best to govern watersupply systems in developing countries. The chapter establishes that increasing pressure on available natural resources may have already rendered obsolete some of the water-supply systems and governance regimes that have served human societies very well for many decades. It is also clear that national water-supply governance paradigms tend to change in tandem with emerging national development theoretical frameworks and priorities. Each nation or local government feels compelled to adopt a particular framework to fulfi l its needs taking into account the broader global water policy context. While many developing countries have adopted water policy prescriptions from the international arena, national and local socio-economic and political realities ultimately determine what works and what does not work on the ground. Local realities have also helped to inform how nation-states domesticate global concepts for their local purposes. Thus, the choice between free-market approaches and developmental state-oriented approaches is never simple, and hybrid models are often deployed. Indeed, the majority of countries and municipalities rely on a mix of market economics and developmental statism to make their water governance regimes more realistic and workable on the ground.

show abstract

“…Urban water supply in Zambia falls under a series of management contracts held between local authorities and commercial companies (Dagdeviren, 2008), these having evolved as a result of the neoliberal reform that swept through developing nations in the 1990s as privatisation was seen as the solution for addressing the world's water problems (Rivera, 1996;Parker, Kirkpatrick, 2005;Hall, Lobina, 2006;Tecco, 2008;Bakker, 2010). For Zambia, commercialisation was used as a surrogate for privatisation, a common theme throughout developing nations, as multinational companies could not guarantee a return on investment (Dagdeviren, 2008). The Kafubu Water and Sewage Company (KWSC) assumed the responsibility for water supply in Ndola in 2000 as a direct result (Dagdeviren, Robertson, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water quality awareness and barriers to safe water provisioning in informal communities: A case study from Ndola, Zambia

Liddle

Mager

Nel

2014

Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

abstract. Local water providers in developing nations typically view shallow hand-dug wells as traditional and backward sources of water supply. It has long been assumed that the urban poor do not have the ability to develop these in a way that allows them to be classified as 'improved' in terms of the Millennium Development Goal for water, believing that users do not understand the factors that constitute safe water and the threats to these sources. Our assessment of the level of environmental knowledge held by local water-users in Ndola in Zambia demonstrates a coherent understanding of the safety of their water sources, the quality of these, the threats to them, and the fundamentals of how their local hydrology works, all of which is contrary to the perspective of key informants who are involved in water supply. Despite their environmental awareness, the majority of users did not generally protect their wells from contamination nor treat their water. The apparent paradox between awareness of risks to water and implementing protection of that water source is a function of the complex suite of socially manifested attitudes, habits and behaviours when it comes to water protection and treatment, which is exacerbated by vulnerable community and family structures and entrenched poverty. For meaningful outcomes in improved access to safe water to be realised providers need to increase their engagement with the informal communities, moving deeper into community-based participatory planning and recognise the societal and cultural factors that are entrained into these communities water supply practices. A key part of this involves the need for providers to move away from simple knowledge-based education to the more holistic form of skill-based health education.

show abstract

Waiting for Miracles: The Commercialization of Urban Water Services in Zambia

Cited by 47 publications

References 26 publications

Ensuring Sustainable Access to Drinking Water in Sub Saharan Africa: Conflict Between Financial and Social Objectives

Ensuring Sustainable Access to Drinking Water in Sub Saharan Africa: Conflict Between Financial and Social Objectives

Free-Market Economics and Developmental Statism as Political Paradigms: Implications for Water Governance Theory and Practice in Developing Countries

Water quality awareness and barriers to safe water provisioning in informal communities: A case study from Ndola, Zambia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About