The impact of the 2019 water supply and sanitation act on rural water management in Kongwa and Chamwino districts, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper investigates the transformative impact of Act No. 5 of 2019, the "Water Supply and Sanitation Act" (WSSA), on rural water management practices in Central Tanzania. Supported by the Italian Civil Society Organization (CSO) Lay Volunteers International Association (LVIA) and funded by the 8x1000 grant from the Italian Prime Minister's Office, this research primarily focuses on the roles of Community Based Water Supply Organizations (CBWSOs) and the Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA). The paper analyses data on community water management collected by the LVIA team in its field activities and by an ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in 2022 within a PhD research that included both quantitative and qualitative methods, namely focus groups, semistructured interviews, questionnaires, photo elicitation, participant observation and transect walks. The article shows how the 2019 reform had uneven implementation in rural Kongwa and Chamwino districts because of challenges in the allocation of adequate resources from the national government to the rural communities, in terms of skills, financial resources, and personnel. The paper offers an analysis of the relationship between community water management and gender dynamics. It shows how water policies and legislative framework have been tackling gender issues by indicating the importance of reinforcing women’s presence and participation in formal water management. Therefore, there is space for new and creative ways to foster gender equality through community water management system through the more comprehensive framework of gender-and-development (GAD). In conclusion, systemic reforms like the 2019 one require time to be metabolised by the local communities as they intersect with broader environmental, economic, and socio-political dynamics. Therefore, the results presented in this article need to be understood in an constantly changing situation.