This is often the question those in the water sector have to answer with regards to the current management of water especially in the rural areas where so much responsibility is placed on Water Point Committees (WPC), who most of the time do not have the resources (human, financial and technical) to successfully manage these water points. Last year the ASSAR project published a briefing note on lessons from decentralised water governance in Namibia and this highlights important lessons why the current practice does not work and why new approaches to governance are needed to support effective participation of different groups that might contribute to more sustainable use of water resources. This briefing note is accessible on this link.
Last year the DRFN organised a food for thought session on water management in the Kunene whereby researchers from the LOCAL Institutions in Globalised Societies (LINGS) shared their findings from working with different stakeholders in the Kunene. The researchers also proposed possible future scenario's how this can current practice can be improved.
This work was also subsequently published in the Namibian newspaper and is accessible on the following link.