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Collective Action in the Management of Water Sources in the Highlands of Eastern Africa

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dc.contributor.author Mowo, J.G. en_US
dc.contributor.author German, Laura en_US
dc.contributor.author Wickham, James en_US
dc.contributor.author Zenebe, A. en_US
dc.contributor.author Mazengia, Waga en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2009-07-31T14:29:26Z
dc.date.available 2009-07-31T14:29:26Z
dc.date.issued 2008 en_US
dc.date.submitted 2008-11-17 en_US
dc.date.submitted 2008-11-17 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10535/348
dc.description.abstract "Participatory constraints and opportunities analysis conducted in three watersheds in Tanzania and Ethiopia established that water quantity and quality were the major constraints to adopting integrated natural resource management (INRM) practices. The African Highlands Initiative (AHI) working with communities in the three watersheds considered management of water sources as an important entry point for enhanced INRM. Focus group discussion, key informants interviews and historical trend analysis were used to obtain information on the status of water sources in the target watersheds, reasons why most of them have deteriorated, the impact of this on NRM and available opportunities for reversing this trend. The study established that rehabilitation of water sources was possible through collective action, which in this paper refers to direct actions carried out by groups of people working toward common goals. Further, appropriate policies and realistic by-laws, planting of water friendly tree species and putting in place an effective management structure were necessary for the long term survival of the water sources. Through AHI interventions, 32 water sources have been rehabilitated in Baga Watershed in Tanzania where target communities indicated a reduction on the time spent in collecting water from 5 hours to 5 minutes. A health centre in one village in this watershed reported a 55 % reduction in the incidences of waterborne diseases. In Ginchi (Ethiopia) three springs have been rehabilitated and are being used to protect the catchments around through enacting of local rules and regulations for their management. In Areka (Ethiopia) a total of 300 households have benefitted from rehabilitated water sources while reduction in the time for collecting water has increased the time available to attending to other developmental activities. It is concluded that collective action in managing water sources is an effective way of addressing issues that are beyond the capability of individual households, and through this, save time that can be directed to other activities including NRM, apart from having a healthier community." en_US
dc.subject collective action en_US
dc.subject water resources en_US
dc.subject resource management en_US
dc.subject IASC en_US
dc.title Collective Action in the Management of Water Sources in the Highlands of Eastern Africa en_US
dc.type Conference Paper en_US
dc.type.published unpublished en_US
dc.coverage.region Africa en_US
dc.subject.sector Water Resource & Irrigation en_US
dc.identifier.citationconference Governing Shared Resources: Connecting Local Experience to Global Challenges, the Twelfth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons en_US
dc.identifier.citationconfdates July 14-18, 2008 en_US
dc.identifier.citationconfloc Cheltenham, England en_US


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