CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 62Water Resource Management and QualityWater Governance and InfrastructureEnvironmental Science and Water Management

‘Water is life': developing community participation for clean water in rural South Africa

Open access
Hove, Jennifer, D'Ambruoso, Lucia, Mabetha, Denny, van der Merwe, Maria, Byass, Peter, Kahn, Kathleen, Khosa, Sonto, Witter, Sophie +1 more·2019·BMJ Global Health
DOI 10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001377PMC PMC6570987
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Background: South Africa is a semiarid country where 5 million people, mainly in rural areas, lack access to water. Despite legislative and policy commitments to the right to water, cooperative governance and public participation, many authorities lack the means to engage with and respond to community needs. The objectives were to develop local knowledge on health priorities in a rural province as part of a programme developing community evidence for policy and planning. Methods: We engaged 24 participants across three villages in the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System and codesigned the study. This paper reports on lack of clean, safe water, which was nominated in one village (n=8 participants) and in which women of reproductive age were nominated as a group whose voices are excluded from attention to the issue. On this basis, additional participants were recruited (n=8). We then held a series of consensus-building workshops to develop accounts of the problem and actions to address it using Photovoice to document lived realities. Thematic analysis of narrative and visual data was performed. Results: Repeated and prolonged periods when piped water is unavailable were reported, as was unreliable infrastructure, inadequate service delivery, empty reservoirs and poor supply exacerbated by droughts. Interconnected social, behavioural and health impacts were documented combined with lack of understanding, cooperation and trust between communities and authorities. There was unanimity among participants for taps in houses as an overarching goal and strategies to build an evidence base for planning and advocacy were developed. Conclusion: In this setting, there is willingness among community stakeholders to improve water security and there are existing community assemblies to support this. Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance Systems provide important opportunities to routinely connect communities to resource management and service delivery. Developing learning platforms with government and non-government organisations may offer a means to enable more effective public participation in decentralised water governance.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001377

Cites

3 of 3 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 30

  1. [12]van Koppen B, Schreiner B Moving beyond integrated water resource management: developmental water management in South Africa. Int J Water Resour Dev 2014; 30: 543– 58. 10.1080/07900627.2014.912111 · DOI
  2. [15]Beresford A Power, patronage, and gatekeeper politics in South Africa. Afr Aff 2015; 114: 226– 48. 10.1093/afraf/adu083 · DOI
  3. [17]Kanyane M Exploring Challenges of Municipal Service Delivery in South Africa (1994 - 2013). APSDPR 2014; 2 10.4102/apsdpr.v2i1.45 · DOI
  4. [20]Nare L, Odiyo JO, Francis J, et al Framework for effective community participation in water quality management in Luvuvhu catchment of South Africa. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 2011; 36: 1063– 70. 10.1016/j.pce.2011.08.006 · DOI
  5. [21]Movik S, Mehta L, Van Koppen B, et al Interpretations and translations of IWRM in South Africa. Water Altern 2016; 9: 456– 72.
  6. [22]Volenzo TE, Odiyo J Ecological public health and participatory planning and assessment dilemmas: the case of water resources management. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2018; 15. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15081635 PMC6121475 30072619 · DOI
  7. [23]Merrey DJ Is normative integrated water resources management implementable? charting a practical course with lessons from southern Africa. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 2008; 33: 899– 905. 10.1016/j.pce.2008.06.026 · DOI
  8. [26]Sershen S, Rodda N, Stenström TA, et al Water security in South Africa: perceptions on public expectations and municipal obligations, governance and water re-use. Water SA 2016; 42: 456– 65. 10.4314/wsa.v42i3.11 · DOI
  9. [28]Geere J-A, Bartram J, Bates L, et al Carrying water may be a major contributor to disability from musculoskeletal disorders in low income countries: a cross-sectional survey in South Africa, Ghana and Vietnam. J Glob Health 2018; 8 10.7189/jogh.08.010406 PMC5825974 29497503 · DOI · Paper page
  10. [30]Bulled N The effects of water insecurity and emotional distress on civic action for improved water infrastructure in rural South Africa. Med Anthropol Q 2017; 31: 133– 54. 10.1111/maq.12270 26698378 PMC4919250 · DOI · Paper page
  11. [31]Harris LM, Kleiber D, Rodina L, et al Water Materialities and citizen engagement: testing the implications of water access and quality for community engagement in Ghana and South Africa. Soc Nat Resour 2018; 31: 89– 105. 10.1080/08941920.2017.1364818 · DOI
  12. [32]Chikulo BC “The Smoke That Calls”: A Review of Service Delivery Protests in South Africa 2005 -2014. J Hum Ecol 2016; 55: 51– 60. 10.1080/09709274.2016.11907009 · DOI
  13. [33]Twala C The causes and socio-political impact of the service delivery protests to the South African Citizenry: a real public discourse. Journal of Social Sciences 2014; 39: 159– 67. 10.1080/09718923.2014.11893279 · DOI
  14. [34]Langa M, Kiguwa P Violent masculinities and service delivery protests in post-apartheid South Africa: a case study of two communities in Mpumalanga. Agenda 2013; 27: 20– 31. 10.1080/10130950.2013.793897 · DOI
  15. [35]Kahn K, Collinson MA, Gómez-Olivé FX, et al Profile: Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system. Int J Epidemiol 2012; 41: 988– 1001. 10.1093/ije/dys115 22933647 PMC3429877 · DOI
  16. [36]Kahn K, Tollman SM, Collinson MA, et al Research into health, population and social transitions in rural South Africa: data and methods of the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance System1. Scand J Public Health 2007; 35(69_suppl): 8– 20. 10.1080/14034950701505031 PMC2826136 17676498 · DOI
  17. [37]Kabudula CW, Houle B, Collinson MA, et al Assessing changes in household socioeconomic status in rural South Africa, 2001-2013: a Distributional analysis using household asset indicators. Soc Indic Res 2017; 133: 1047– 73. 10.1007/s11205-016-1397-z 28931968 PMC5579134 · DOI
  18. [39]Hullur N, D'Ambruoso L, Edin K, et al Community perspectives on HIV, violence and health surveillance in rural South Africa: a participatory pilot study. J Glob Health 2016; 6 10.7189/jogh.06.010406 PMC4871061 27231542 · DOI
  19. [40]Wariri O, D'Ambruoso L, Twine R, et al Initiating a participatory action research process in the Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance site. J Glob Health 2017; 7 10.7189/jogh.07.010413 PMC5475314 28685035 · DOI
  20. [41]Brooks C, D'Ambruoso L, Kazimierczak K, et al Introducing visual participatory methods to develop local knowledge on HIV in rural South Africa. BMJ Glob Health 2017; 2 10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000231 PMC5640027 29071128 · DOI
  21. [43]Catalani C, Minkler M Photovoice: a review of the literature in health and public health. Health Educ Behav 2010; 37: 424– 51. 10.1177/1090198109342084 19797541 · DOI
  22. [44]Pope C, Ziebland S, Mays N Qualitative research in health care. analysing qualitative data. BMJ 2000; 320: 114– 6. 10.1136/bmj.320.7227.114 10625273 PMC1117368 · DOI · Paper page
  23. [45]Newbury D Making arguments with images: visual scholarship and academic publishing. In: The SAGE handbook of visual research methods. 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom: SAGE Publications Ltd: 651– 64.
  24. [46]Trevett AF, Carter RC, Tyrrel SF The importance of domestic water quality management in the context of faecal-oral disease transmission. J Water Health 2005; 3: 259– 70. 10.2166/wh.2005.037 16209030 · DOI
  25. [48]Tanser F, Azongo DK, Vandormael A, et al Impact of the scale-up of piped water on urogenital schistosomiasis infection in rural South Africa. eLife 2018; 7 10.7554/eLife.33065 PMC5819946 29460779 · DOI
  26. [49]Rasanathan K, Bennett S, Atkins V, et al Governing multisectoral action for health in low- and middle-income countries. PLoS Med 2017; 14: e1002285 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002285 28441387 PMC5404752 · DOI
  27. [50]Brown J Assuming too much? participatory water resource governance in South Africa. Geogr J 2011; 177: 171– 85. 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2010.00378.x 21941692 · DOI
  28. [51]Megdal S, Eden S, Shamir E Water governance, Stakeholder engagement, and sustainable water resources management. Water 2017; 9 10.3390/w9030190 · DOI
  29. [52]Cook T, Boote J, Buckley N, et al Accessing participatory research impact and legacy: developing the evidence base for participatory approaches in health research. Educational Action Research 2017; 25: 473– 88. 10.1080/09650792.2017.1326964 · DOI
  30. [53]Brown J Evaluating participatory initiatives in South Africa. SAGE Open 2014; 4 10.1177/2158244014531966 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Hove, J., D'Ambruoso, L., Mabetha, D., van der Merwe, M., Byass, P., Kahn, K., Khosa, S., Witter, S., & Twine, R.
Affiliations
  • University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
  • Institute of Applied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
  • Centre for Global Development, School of Education, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
  • Umeå University (SE)
  • Department of Health, Mpumalanga Provincial Government, Mbombela, South Africa
  • Queen Margaret University (GB)
ORCID
Venue
BMJ Global Health
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2019-06
Volume
4
Issue
3
Pages
e001377
ISSN
2059-7908 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001377
PMC
PMC6570987
OpenAlex
W2953381943
Cited by
62
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
FWCI
1.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • BMJ Global Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Aberdeen University Research Archive (Aberdeen University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Medical Research Council (MR/N005597/1, MR/P014844/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Resource Management and Quality
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Water Governance and Infrastructure
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Environmental Science and Water Management
Keywords
community participation, clean water access, rural water supply, right to water, water security, women of reproductive age, photovoice, water governance, drought, community assembly, service delivery, Agincourt

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review