Water resource management should be a responsibility for all of us, and yet we often feel excluded from the decision-making processes. People in the community can and should be at the centre of it.
We have explored how public participation is an essential principle in project management in our new African Region Publication. It is thanks to the partnership of the African Development Bank and the Water Research Commission that this publication has been made possible.
Public participation for helping to protect the human rights to water and sanitation varies from country to country. In some countries, this participation may be limited to sharing information, the right to access data, and the right to comment, question, or complain about the data. In many countries, the governance framework may revolve around the local communities operating their own water systems, and they are completely involved in the decision-making process.
Concerning environmental sustainability, nature-based and locally sustainable initiatives are part of the solution requiring the local and historical knowledge of the community. We are missing opportunities to optimise solutions if we don’t gather information from women, the elderly, indigenous peoples, and nomadic societies. Including them meaningfully in the decision-making process may need legislation to make this possible.
Legal protections for public participation and inclusion include the following:
- Law and policy addressing public participation
- Participation in water-related issues
- IWRM mechanism with provision for regional or local participation
Figure 1. Water station in Bamako, Mali (Source: AfDB)
Case Study: Mali
AfDB worked on the PAEP Bamako/Kabala project to supply drinking water to Bamako from the Kabala. AfDB used a consultative approach from the early design stages, to allow the inclusion of different points of view and the needs of the beneficiary population.
In Bamako, water was a limited resource. The project aimed to improve access from 36% to 60% and improve the quality and safety of water for 1.6 million people. Given the magnitude of the exercise, the project organized a series of public consultations and meetings with representatives of Bamako municipal councils and the population, and those of water user associations. This was supported by the decentralization policy adopted by Mali to encouragethe involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, including grassroots organisations in project implementation and subsequent monitoring.
Figure 2. Water station in Bamako, Mali (Source: AfDB)
