Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa
Background Despite legislative and policy commitments to participatory water governance in South Africa, and some remarkable achievements, there has been limited progress to improve the water infrastructure servicing in marginalized rural communities. Around five million South Africans still do not...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Global Health Action |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2021.1973715 |
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| author | Jennifer Hove Lucia D’Ambruoso Rhian Twine Denny Mabetha Maria van der Merwe Ishmael Mtungwa Sonto Khoza Kathleen Kahn Sophie Witter |
| author_facet | Jennifer Hove Lucia D’Ambruoso Rhian Twine Denny Mabetha Maria van der Merwe Ishmael Mtungwa Sonto Khoza Kathleen Kahn Sophie Witter |
| author_sort | Jennifer Hove |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Despite legislative and policy commitments to participatory water governance in South Africa, and some remarkable achievements, there has been limited progress to improve the water infrastructure servicing in marginalized rural communities. Around five million South Africans still do not have access to safe water. Objective This paper seeks to understand and advance processes to engage multisectoral stakeholders to respond to lack of safe water as a community-nominated health priority in rural South Africa. Method We engaged representatives from Mpumalanga Department of Health (MDoH), rural communities, other government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to cooperatively generate, interpret and act on evidence addressing community-nominated priorities. A series of participatory workshops were conducted where stakeholders worked together as co-researchers to develop shared accounts of the problem, and recommendations to address it. Consensus on the problem, mapping existing planning and policy landscapes, and initiating constructive dialogue was facilitated through group discussions in a collective learning process. Results Community stakeholders nominated lack of safe water as a local priority public health issue and generated evidence on causes and contributors, and health and social impacts. Together with government and NGO stakeholders, this evidence was corroborated. Stakeholders developed a local action plan through consensus and feasibility appraisal. Actions committed to behavioural change and reorganization of existing services, were relevant to the needs of the local community and were developed with consideration of current policies and strategies. A positive, collective reflection was made on the process. The greatest gain reported was the development of dialogue in ‘safe spaces’ through which mutual understanding, insights into the functioning of other sectors and learning by doing were achieved. Conclusion Our process reflected willingness and commitment among stakeholders to work together collectively addressing local water challenges. Location in an established public health observatory helped to create neutral, mediated spaces for participation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0b30b5a2cb0f431ab642406348d9af4c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1654-9880 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Health Action |
| spelling | doaj-art-0b30b5a2cb0f431ab642406348d9af4c2025-08-20T03:44:03ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGlobal Health Action1654-98802021-01-0114110.1080/16549716.2021.19737151973715Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South AfricaJennifer Hove0Lucia D’Ambruoso1Rhian Twine2Denny Mabetha3Maria van der Merwe4Ishmael Mtungwa5Sonto Khoza6Kathleen Kahn7Sophie Witter8University of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the WitwatersrandMpumalanga Provincial GovernmentMpumalanga Provincial GovernmentUniversity of the WitwatersrandQueen Margaret UniversityBackground Despite legislative and policy commitments to participatory water governance in South Africa, and some remarkable achievements, there has been limited progress to improve the water infrastructure servicing in marginalized rural communities. Around five million South Africans still do not have access to safe water. Objective This paper seeks to understand and advance processes to engage multisectoral stakeholders to respond to lack of safe water as a community-nominated health priority in rural South Africa. Method We engaged representatives from Mpumalanga Department of Health (MDoH), rural communities, other government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to cooperatively generate, interpret and act on evidence addressing community-nominated priorities. A series of participatory workshops were conducted where stakeholders worked together as co-researchers to develop shared accounts of the problem, and recommendations to address it. Consensus on the problem, mapping existing planning and policy landscapes, and initiating constructive dialogue was facilitated through group discussions in a collective learning process. Results Community stakeholders nominated lack of safe water as a local priority public health issue and generated evidence on causes and contributors, and health and social impacts. Together with government and NGO stakeholders, this evidence was corroborated. Stakeholders developed a local action plan through consensus and feasibility appraisal. Actions committed to behavioural change and reorganization of existing services, were relevant to the needs of the local community and were developed with consideration of current policies and strategies. A positive, collective reflection was made on the process. The greatest gain reported was the development of dialogue in ‘safe spaces’ through which mutual understanding, insights into the functioning of other sectors and learning by doing were achieved. Conclusion Our process reflected willingness and commitment among stakeholders to work together collectively addressing local water challenges. Location in an established public health observatory helped to create neutral, mediated spaces for participation.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2021.1973715participatory water governancemultisectoral stakeholderscommunity evidencelocal action planwater challenges |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer Hove Lucia D’Ambruoso Rhian Twine Denny Mabetha Maria van der Merwe Ishmael Mtungwa Sonto Khoza Kathleen Kahn Sophie Witter Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa Global Health Action participatory water governance multisectoral stakeholders community evidence local action plan water challenges |
| title | Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa |
| title_full | Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa |
| title_short | Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa |
| title_sort | developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in south africa |
| topic | participatory water governance multisectoral stakeholders community evidence local action plan water challenges |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2021.1973715 |
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