No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Enhancing sector data management to target the water poor
Abstract
Appropriate data management as the basis of effective performance reporting is crucial if sector institutions are to track whether they achieve their objectives. This paper shows how a post process of readily available data to construct water poverty maps can be used to identify effectively the most water poor communities, and thus improve the targeting of sector development policies and projects. To this end, water poverty takes its definition from the Water Poverty Index, which combines biophysical, social, economic and environmental data in one single and comparable number to produce a holistic and user-friendly tool for policy making. The study is based on a comprehensive record of the water sources developed by UNICEF in Turkana District, in Kenya. The main conclusion is that such an index allows decision-makers to determine and target priority needs for interventions in the water sector, while assessing the impacts of sector-related development policies. Postprint (author’s final draft)
... In this sense, Wilk and Jonsson (2013) have suggested that a better understanding of poverty or prosperity of a country or a district in water is an imperative in order to allow a better targeting of strategic actions for an efficient management of water resources. That is necessary particularly for arid and semi-arid areas where access to and reliability of water sources have a large influence on promoting sustainable livelihoods and, where environmental impact associated with inadequate resource management is significant (Giné and Pérez-Foguet, 2009). However, the major challenge one is facing is know how to appreciate with relevance water prosperity or poverty. ...
This working paper is an analytical framework on how to include the poor and vulnerable groups in water and sanitation services providing in Developing countries.
PS: The improved version is published in Water Policy
... El trabajo que se presenta en esta comunicación pretende aunar todos los aspectos anteriormente citados: la formación en valores, la cooperación al desarrollo, el desarrollo sostenible y la investigación a través de la creación de un grupo de trabajo interdisciplinar. Gracias a la financiación interna por parte de la Universidad Europea de Madrid del proyecto titulado "Rehabilitación de 9 puntos de agua potable en la Región de Afar (Etiopía)" se pretende abastecer de agua potable de manera permanente a varios municipios de la Región de Afar en Etiopía (Giné, 2008), mediante un trabajo en equipo con la población local. La carencia de agua potable en estas poblaciones ha obligado a las mismas a utilizar el río para satisfacer sus necesidades lo que ha provocado la aparición de enfermedades como el cólera y la diarrea acuosa, ya que el río Awash está altamente contaminado (Gizaw, 1996;Nash, 1994). ...
Introducción La Universidad por sus propias características como lugar de generación de conocimiento y formación integral de los estudiantes, tiene una gran influencia sobre éstos, y sobre la sociedad en general. De ahí, que su compromiso con los derechos humanos, la libertad y la aceptación de las diferencias deba ser una máxima en su actuación. Tal y como dice Camps (2008), el objetivo principal de la educación es la formación de la personalidad. Y se hace necesario, formar no sólo a profesionales sino a personas con pensamiento crítico, comprometidas y respetuosas con su entorno, que en su futura actuación profesional pongan en práctica valores como el respeto, la equidad y la convivencia. En este marco conceptual, bastantes universidades además de trabajar en áreas como el respeto al medioambiente, la integración de personas con discapacidad, la conciencia de los derechos humanos, etc. impulsan proyectos de Cooperación al desarrollo. Según la definición aportada por CRUE "la Cooperación al Desarrollo es una parte de la Cooperación Internacional que, con similar propósito, se establece entre países con distinto nivel de desarrollo, con unos fines concretos (consolidación democrática, desarrollo económico y social sostenible, lucha contra la pobreza, protección del medio ambiente, entre otros). No se debe confundir con ayuda humanitaria y debe exigir un esfuerzo de las contrapartes, aunque no pueda ser el mismo en todos los países. Así, el impulso por parte de las universidades en la Cooperación al desarrollo resulta un modo enriquecedor de introducir formación en valores y desarrollar competencias éticas entre los estudiantes universitarios (Rodríguez, 2008). Los profesores tienen en este sentido la responsabilidad de aumentar su formación en este ámbito, promover la investigación e impulsar proyectos en los que los alumnos se puedan involucrar (Castaño et al., 2009; Domínguez, 2009).
... It is believed that information in current database is not adequately integrated, hindering their use for policy and planning purposes. In a previous study (Giné and Pérez-Foguet, 2009a) it was shown that a post process of available data can produce easy-to-use water poverty maps (where water poverty takes its definition from the WPI), and provide a simple and powerful tool to both support water resource management and effectively tackle water poverty. However, and aimed at overcoming major criticism levelled at the WPI, a revised method (Giné and Pérez-Foguet, 2009b) to construct the index is employed in this paper. ...
This paper highlights the relevance of the use of the Water Poverty Index as an effective water management tool in resources allocation and prioritization processes. Nevertheless, three conceptual weaknesses exist in the current index, including redundancy among variables, the decision of assigning weights to them, and the aggregation method. Based on a post process of readily available but sector relevant data, a revised method to construct the index has been developed through a case study in Kenya, at local scale. The paper discusses the results of this application. In particular, different approaches to exploit the index as a policy tool are presented, with the aim of enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the water sector constraints and challenges, and thus enhance related decision-making accordingly. Postprint (author’s final draft)
For developing countries, the proportion of households covered by improved water resources is conventionally used to assess the water stress situation. However, in a developing country like India with a high population growth rate, water demand and supply are considerably mismatched. An agro‐based economy with large variations in socio‐economic conditions and changing rainfall patterns across the states imposes greater challenge on water resources. Therefore, there is a need to assess the water situation across the country in a holistic manner. This paper proposes application of the Water Poverty Index as a comprehensive policy tool to assess actual water‐stress situation across 20 major states in India. This index covers important socio‐economic parameters such as access, capacity, use and environment in addition to water resources of each state. The results and findings are expected to be of use to policymakers and implementing agencies. In view of policy formulation, a state performing well on a Water Poverty Index component can act as a benchmark for another state.
Combining the measure of water availability and the socio-economic capacity to access it gives new insights in the fields of water resources management and poverty alleviation. This approach lets researchers think about new multidimensional water scarcity indexes that have contributed to the definition of the water poverty index (WPI). The methodology first used for the calculation of this aggregate index was based on an equally weighted average of its five components (resources, capacity, access, use and environment). The main objective of this paper is to improve this procedure by using an objective weighting scheme. For this purpose we use principal component analysis to give more weight to components with larger variance and to discard components with very small ones. This improved WPI is applied in the case of Tunisia. We have obtained relevant results which could help policy makers to devise better policies to alleviate water poverty in the Inland region which was where the Tunisian revolution began.
An assessment of water stress and scarcity requires a multi-faceted approach to achieve real water poverty reduction. Several issues impact the ability of people to access to and properly use water and improved sanitation facilities. Among them are the availability of water resources, the capacity of communities to manage the schemes, the economic aspects of services affordability, and the environmental issues. However, they are often treated separately, and not as an integrated, dynamic process. In order to integrate these biophysical, social, economic and environmental issues, as well as the existing pressures and policy responses into one single, comparable, dynamic indicator, an enhanced Water Poverty Index, which uses a pressure–state– response function, has been developed and is proposed in this study. It is primarily designed to produce a holistic tool for policy making, aimed at allowing resource managers to determine and target priority needs in the water sector, while assessing development process. This paper highlights some of the applications of the index at different spatial scales. It is concerned not with the development or the underlying methodology of the index, but with how the tool can best be applied in practice to generate useful data, which then may be used to support decision-making.
The Water Poverty Index (WPI) was created as an interdisciplinary indicator to assess water stress and scarcity, linking physical estimates of water availability with the socioeconomic drivers of poverty. This index has found great relevance in policy making as an effective water management tool, particularly in resources allocation and prioritization processes. Two conceptual weaknesses exist in the current index: (1) inadequate technique to combine available data and (2) poor statistical properties of the resulting composite. The purpose of this paper is to propose a suitable methodology to assess water poverty that overcomes these weaknesses. To this end, a number of combinations to create the WPI have been considered, based on indicators selection criteria, simple aggregation functions and multivariate analysis. The approach adopted has been designed for universal application at local scale. To exemplify the utilization of each alternative method, they have been piloted and implemented in the Turkana District (Kenya) as a case study. The paper concludes that the weighted multiplicative function is the most appropriate aggregation method for estimation of water poverty. It is least eclipsing and ambiguous free function, and it does not allow compensability among different variables of the index Postprint (published version)
Several issues impact the water sustainability of a river basin. Among them are the social, economic, and environmental aspects.
However, they are often treated separately, and not as an integrated, dynamic process. In order to integrate the hydrologic,
environmental, life and policy issues, as well as the existing pressures and policy responses in one quantitative, dynamic,
and aggregated indicator, a watershed sustainability index (WSI), which uses a pressure–state–response function, was developed
and is proposed in this paper. Applied to a 2,200km2 Unesco–HELP demonstration basin in Brazil (SF Verdadeiro), the value obtained for WSI was 0.65, which represents an intermediate
level of basin sustainability.
Using indices and indicators in assessment of progress of a developing country has two sides. Such indicators offer an easy-to-understand shorthand/synopsis of issues vital for a country’s development. The other side of the coin, however, is that this synopsis may be distorted due to incorrect data or inapplicability of an index or an indicator to a specific case. This paper assesses the applicability of Water Poverty Index for the countries riparian to the Sava sub-basin, a tributary to the Danube river basin and presents the results of its application. At the same time, the paper discusses the concept of water poverty and the appropriateness of its use in the case of Sava River Basin countries by differentiating the economic poverty in some of those countries from sufficient access to and use of water resources in all of them.
This paper shows how water poverty mapping using census data and the Water Poverty Index can be used to identify effectively the most water-poor households in a region for the targeting of water supply development policies and projects. The main findings come from a case study conducted in the Estcourt municipal district in South Africa where simple water poverty maps were developed using readily available data sources at three different scales: enumerator area, place names and sub-catchment. The efficiency of targeting the most water-poor households using the different scales of water poverty maps were measured by comparing both the inclusion and exclusion rates of targeting and comparing them with other similar targeting studies. The distribution of water poverty within a community was also compared with the results of a detailed household questionnaire conducted as part of the broader development of the water poverty index (WPI). The main conclusion from the study is that water poverty mapping is a strong visual extension of the WPI that has great potential for providing a practical way for water management authorities and decision makers to identify and target the most water poor households and monitoring the impacts and tangible benefits of water supply development policies.
Countering the widely held opinion that water scarcity entails prime risks of international conflicts over shared water resources, it is argued that the risk of conflicts within countries in fact is larger, and that the risk of international conflict is derived from the necessity to avoid what is defined as second-order conflicts within countries, caused not by water scarcity itself, but by the institutional change required to adapt to water scarcity. To illustrate this, the most pernicious effect of social resource scarcity, a new Social Resource Water Stress/Scarcity Index (SWSI) is developed, built on a combination of traditional hydrological indices and the UNDP Human Development Index as the most readily available proxy for social adaptive capacity. Calculations are made for 159 countries, 1995 and with projections to 2025. The study demonstrates that the index captures the social impacts of water scarcity more accurately than earlier indices.
For a large proportion of the world's population, our inability to match water demand to its supply has meant a lack of provision of adequate water for domestic use. This has resulted in a significant loss of time and effort, especially on the part of women, who are often bear most of the burden of water collection. Economically, this loss of time represents a loss of human capital, and as a result, reduces the ability of the household to capitalise fully on its other resources. In order to address this problem, the challenge for the scientific and development community is to identify ways in which this capacity deprivation (Sen, 1999) can be reduced. If this can be achieved, a significant improvement in household wellbeing may result and poverty can be eradicated. As water stress increases across many nations of the world, the need for effective water management becomes more pressing. Physical science and hydrological modelling can provide us with detailed assessments of water resource availability, but little to date has been done to link this to our knowledge of human resources and their geographical distributions. To achieve this, a more holistic approach needs to be taken to address the questions of water availability, and its relationship to human and ecological needs, and for this reason, efforts are being made to develop a water management tool known as the Water Poverty Index (WPI). To develop a Water Poverty Index, an interdisciplinary approach is taken to assess water stress, in such a way as to link physical estimates of water availability with the socio-economic drivers of poverty. This paper provides a preliminary discussion on how the Water Poverty Index which is being developed in selected pilot sites in Tanzania, South Africa and Sri Lanka can be used as a tool for planning and monitoring water management projects and achievements in water provision, and also how WPI will be used as an indicator for equitable and more transparent way of resource allocation as a measure towards integrated water management.
This paper provides discussion of ways in which an interdisciplinary approach can be taken to produce an integrated assessment of water stress and scarcity, linking physical estimates of water availability with socioeconomic variables that reflect poverty, i.e., a Water Poverty Index. It is known that poor households often suffer from poor water provision, and this results in a significant loss of time and effort, especially for women. By linking the physical and social sciences to address this issue, a more equitable solution for water allocation may be found. For the purpose of initiating discussion, a summary of different approaches to establishing a Water Poverty Index is discussed.
To be operationally sustainable, any system of environmental management needs to be based on a truly holistic assessment of all of the relevant factors influencing it. This is of course a daunting task, demanding as it does detailed and reliable data, not only from both the physical and social sciences, but also incorporating some representation of that part of knowledge which could be described as non-scientific. This could be said to include the uncertainties of market forces and political will, as well as traditional knowledge systems, and artistic representation. Recognising the limitations of our own knowledge system is important if we are to make progress in the achievement of sustainability. The development of less deterministic models is a step forward in that direction.
This paper provides some discussion on the challenges associated with the integration of data from different disciplines, and the application of that data at different scales. Alternative approaches to the assessment of water resources for policy making are highlighted, and the validity of using such assessments at different scales is discussed. Using the Water Poverty Index as illustration, examples are provided of how an integrated assessment framework can be used to provide consistency and transparency in decision-making, and how this can, in practice, be applied at a variety of scales.
The article details the development and uses of the water poverty index (WPI). The index was developed as a holistic tool to measure water stress at the household and community levels, designed to aid national decision makers, at community and central government level, as well as donor agencies, to determine priority needs for interventions in the water sector. The index combines into a single number a cluster of data directly and indirectly relevant to water stress. Subcomponents of the index include measures of: access to water; water quantity, quality and variability; water uses (domestic, food, productive purposes); capacity for water management; and environmental aspects. The WPI methodology was developed through pilot projects in South Africa, Tanzania and Sri Lanka and involved intensive participation and consultation with all stakeholders, including water users, politicians, water sector professionals, aid agency personnel and others. The article discusses approaches for the further implementation of the water poverty index, including the possibilities of acquiring the necessary data through existing national surveys or by establishing interdisciplinary water modules in school curricula. The article argues that the WPI fills the need for a simple, open and transparent tool, one that will appeal to politicians and decision makers, and at the same time can empower poor people to participate in the better targeting of water sector interventions and development budgets in general.
The Water Poverty Index (WPI), introduced by Sullivan, is an inter-disciplinary tool that integrates the key issues relating to water resources, combining physical, social, economic and environmental information associated with people’s ability to get access to water and to use water for productive purposes. It is most relevant at the community or sub-basin scales. This paper is concerned not with the development or underlying methodology of the index, but with how it can best be applied in practice to generate useful data, and then how these data may be used to generate benefits, especially for poor people who suffer from inadequate access to water. WPI values would need to be generated over wide areas, and this would require substantial institutional development. To do this, the use of existing census procedures and the needs for simplified data collection are considered, and the idea of widespread data collection through schools is examined. A number of technical issues relating to implementation of the WPI are discussed, particularly how the different spatial scales inter-relate and how the assessment of the physical resource and the collection of social and economic data may be made compatible. Finally, we discuss how the WPI value can be used in practice, and some of the issues and problems that this presents.
"The paper discusses the application of the Water Poverty Index (WPI) as a monitoring tool for Benin's water sector. Benin is currently in a process of political decentralization shifting responsibility for and administration of rural water supplies from the national to the communal level. Appropriate indicators are needed for monitoring and analyzing the progress of the water sector for each community. The Water Poverty Index allows monitoring of a combination of aspects affecting rural water management, including water sources, access to and use of water, human capacity to manage water, and environmental impacts. The application of this index is tested for Benin at the regional level. A series of variables have been chosen for inclusion into the index following data collection and analysis in Benin under the IMPETUS project. Results show a clear distinction between communes in the north and the south of the country and WPI rankings are similar to those for poverty levels. The paper concludes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the WPI and suggests improvements for its application at the communal level." Author's Abstract
Water, schools and health Management Information System (MIS) for Turkana District
- Unicef Republic
- Kenya
UNICEF – Republic of Kenya (2006) Water, schools and health Management Information System (MIS)
for Turkana District. Final Report. Nairobi: UNICEF.
Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment Report Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation
Joint Monitoring Programme (2000) Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment Report 2000. Joint
Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, New York: UNICEF/WHO.
The Water Poverty Index: An international comparison. Keele Economic Research Papers
- P Lawrence
- J Meigh
- C Sullivan
Lawrence, P.; Meigh, J. and Sullivan, C. (2003) The Water Poverty Index: An international comparison.
Keele Economic Research Papers 2002/19, Keele University, UK.
The Water Act (Act No Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Government Printers
- Kenya Republic
Republic of Kenya (2002) The Water Act (Act No. 8 of 2002). Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
Government Printers, Nairobi.