Abstract
Ensuring good governance and planning are recognized as catalysts for developing and sustaining water and sanitation systems. This is vital for achieving the much-touted global and national policies on universal access to water and basic sanitation for all. Despite the benefits of good governance and planning, the decision-making procedure on rural water and sanitation has often taken a ‘top-down’ approach, with minimal attention to consultation and engagement of local communities. Using the mixed research approach, this study investigated citizens’ perceptions of water and sanitation governance in Bilsikura of the Central Gonja District. The study found that understanding gender variations, water demands, community involvement, socioeconomic conditions, and stakeholders’ power relations is critical for improving water and sanitation governance. However, local decision-making structures for water and sanitation governance appear weak due to inadequate capacities (personnel, funding, logistics) and accountability challenges. Decisions on water and sanitation facilities are primarily initiated at the district level, with little to no involvement of the community members. The assemblymen/women who are the mouthpieces of the people appear to have lost the people’s trust in fair representation. There is a need to improve community-led approaches to enhance water and sanitation governance in the community. Such collective efforts should embrace measures for investment, social mobilization, increasing public collaboration, and participation in the planning and development of the community’s water and sanitation systems.
Keywords: Citizens’ Perceptions; Water and Sanitation Governance; Bilsikura; Central Gonja District; Ghana
Submitted to Environment, Development and Sustainability | This publication was made possible (in part) by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the authors' responsibility. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Future Africa Research Leader Fellowship (FAR-LeaF) Programme at the University of Pretoria.
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