Dr Prosper Bazaanah

Access to water, health and sanitation are not only fundamental needs but universal human rights. Too often, access to water and sanitation is geographically, economically and socially determined. Human rights and governance participation are often lost, especially in remote rural areas.

Using the Technology Acceptance Model, Dr Prosper Bazaanah looked at the feasibility, relative performance and acceptance of pumps for groundwater supply in the face of increased drought in the communities studied. In similar studies, he made use of the Bottom-Up Model to examine the role of NGOs in the management of water and sanitation delivery in the face of increasing scarcity of water and access to basic sanitation in impoverished rural settings.

His current research project will draw on cases from rural communities in the Savelugu district in the Northern Region of Ghana. Dr Bazaanah will focus on participation in the governance and sustainability of rural water and sanitation systems in Ghana’s Savannah Region. Surveys of who has access to water and basic sanitation will be conducted as part of the project. While water is an essential public good and a life-supporting resource, access to water and sanitation remains a challenge to rural dwellers. Inclusive and integrated management is crucial to ensure sustainable local development in the district. Water supplies need to be hygienic, safe and sustainable.

Access to water and sanitation services is likely to positively increase water governance through stakeholder participation and, thus, decision-making on a local level. From the standpoint of political ecology, Dr Bazaanah argues in his study that the scarcity of water and environmental constraints created through human-environmental relations call for rethinking community participation, planning and good governance of water and the sanitation sector.

A new conceptual approach will be developed and proposed as an appropriate framework for the effective governance of environmental resources in rural communities. Using the mixed research method, his study draws on 420 rural water users and water officials to analyse the community-based participatory governance systems and the driving factors that affect the sustainability of drinking water and sanitation systems in Ghana as a developing country.