Property Rights and Collective Action around Water Management in Kenya's Lower Nyando Basin

Abstract

"Water management is a priority concern for communities in Nyando basin. Kenya's new water act provides a role for the community in water management, through formation of water user associations. Despite the significance of water for communities, and the policy focus on community involvement, community organization for water management is not forthcoming. To understand the constraints to community organization around water management, a collaborative research was conducted with the World Agroforestry Center in Lake Victoria watershed, Kenya during May-August 2005. The paper presents findings from the qualitative data gathered through focus group discussions across eleven villages in lower Nyando basin on the factors that constrain community management of water. There are multiple reasons for limited community involvement in the management of water. The process of land adjudication and privatization of riparian zones fails to present strong incentives for land owners and community members to participate in collective water management. The ambiguity in the ownership of water systems results into low level of community investment in their management. The absence of institutional structures to address the management of transboundary resources such as rivers also influences the ability of community to cooperate around water management. The ambiguous property right structures constrain the access of poor and marginal groups to critical water resources. An understanding of conditions that engage communities to cooperate for water management would help analysts and water sector agencies to create the right institutional environment to allow for community based water management."