Abstract:
Community Participation is broadly recognized as a basic element of rural drinking water
supply systems in developing countries. This paper appraised how community participation
approach adopted in rural water sectors in Africa and South Asia, particularly in the selected
five developing nations; Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, India and Sri Lanka. The policy on
community participation is basically linked with development initiatives in the rural segments
for a long decade. The selected five countries have adopted community participation strategy
- demand driven approach - since the late 1980s and the early 1990s in their rural water sectors.
Hence, this paper attempts to understand the effective adaptation of public participation in
the rural water schemes as a useful strategy for ensuring the availability of safe, quality and
sustainable water supply to the rural communities. This study is mainly qualitative using
secondary data derived from various published sources. It revealed that the policy on
community participation practice has altered from traditional top-down to demand driven
method which has been adopted in the process of water supply especially among rural
communities in developing nations. This study found that, according to the demand driven
approach, main actors (local people) are not participating in the selection and planning of the
rural water project, but they are taking part mostly when operating the water schemes and
maintaining the water project in the rural areas. Thus, this study suggests to motivate and
mobilize the local beneficiaries to take part in all segments which associated with rural water
projects by educating, training, and empowering men, women and youth in developing
countries.
