The assessment of community participation on the management of water supply project in Tanzania: A case of Kwimba District in Mwanza region

Abstract

The researcher focused on factors affecting the sustainability of water supply projects in Tanzania, specifically in Sumve, Bungulwa and Bupama wards of Kwimba District. The study assessed community participation on the management of Rural Water Supply (RWS) projects, examined the awareness and willingness of community members to contribute to the maintenance costs and analysed capacity of community members in managing Rural Water Supply projects. The study surveyed 30 water points and selected a total of 160 individuals for interview using non-probability sampling techniques. The findings revealed that there was not enough community involvement in water supply projects. Hence, there was the possibility of a declining of water supply project because of low community involvement. However, the people from the visited communities were ready to contribute their resources in terms of money and other resources for maintenance of water supply projects. The challenge was on the approach that was used to collect funds from the community members for maintenance works. In which, it was noted sometimes they were told to contribute for the maintenance costs when need arose and sometimes they were not told to do so even if there were broken water points. Hence some water points were not working because they were not repaired. The study recommends that in order to get the well-established Rural Water Supply project the local community participation must be given the first priority in order to encourage their willingness to contribute towards the maintenance costs.