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"This research report presents the findings of the first phase of the action-research project 'Models for implementing multiple-use water supply systems for enhanced land and water productivity, rural livelihoods and gender equity.' Multipleuse water services, or 'mus' in short, is a participatory, integrated and poverty-reduction focused approach in poor rural and peri-urban areas, which takes people's multiple water needs as a starting point for providing integrated services, moving beyond the conventional sectoral barriers of the domestic and productive sectors. Three aspects are discussed. First, a typology is developed for the various efforts since the 1980s to overcome the shortcomings of conventional single-use planning and design. Second, the empirical evidence is analyzed to identify generic merits and drawbacks of needs-based and participatory water-services provision compared to conventional approaches with regard to wellbeing; gender; ability and willingness to pay for water services; water productivity and 'more use per drop'; integrated local water management institutions; protection against illegal use; health; equitable and environmentally sustainable water allocation and protection of people's basic multiple water needs; and incremental costs. Third, a framework is provided, based on principles grouped in 'Learning Wheels' at the community, intermediate and national levels. The principles represent the conditions that the project team identified as pivotal for implementing and upscaling mus approaches at a larger scale. The ten principles include: service provision based on a thorough understanding of water related livelihoods; sustainable, equitable and efficient use of water resources; appropriate technologies; inclusive institutions (at community level); adequate financing (crosscutting all levels); adaptive and learning-based management (at the intermediate level); coordination between sectors and actors; long-term support; participatory planning (at intermediate and national levels); and enabling policies and legislation (by governments at national level). Action-research guided by this framework is expected to generate better insights and better action to upscale this appropriate form of IWRM and multiply its benefits to advance the Millennium Development Goals." |
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