What are the Emerging Trends in Rural Water Management?

In this report, REAL-Water provides a summary of the key trends in rural water service delivery at the global level and how they have manifested across 12 countries selected in consultation with USAID (Ghana, India, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, the Philippines, Uganda, and Zambia).

These countries—drawn from USAID’s 2021 list of high-priority, and strategically aligned countries for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance—represent a diversity of regions, developmental contexts (income, population, levels of fragility and vulnerability and readiness for climate change), as well as water sector contexts (in terms of rural water coverage and coverage of piped water supply services).

The report constitutes a synthesis of the following activities conducted in the first year of REAL-Water:

• A desk study carried out to characterize the historical evolution of rural water supply and approaches to management in low, middle-income, and high-income countries and to identify the evidence linking management arrangements and performance.
• A landscape exercise conducted for the 12 countries listed above to map management arrangements currently recognized in sector policy, ongoing sector developments, and available performance data.
• An E-survey among 400 respondents to complement and validate the list of factors for research testing.

Overview of management arrangements in 12 study countries, highlighting the diversity of arrangements that coexist in these countries, which we elaborate on in subsequent sections.

DISCLAIMER: This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this brief are the sole responsibility of The Aquaya Institute and REAL-Water consortium members. They do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.