Sustainability of Community Based Water Projects: Dynamics of Actors’ Power Relations

Abstract

Sustainability of Community Based Water Projects (CBWP) in Central Tanzania was examined. Actors’ power was hypothesized to influence sustainability of the CBWP. Power was analyzed from two aspects; power structures and power relations. A cross-sectional design was adopted, which allowed data to be collected once at a point. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to get the study sample. Stratified random sampling was employed to get 30 CBWP for the study and simple random sampling was used for obtaining 390 households. Purposive sampling was also employed to obtain the key informants for in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions Quantitative data obtained were processed and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 16v.) while qualitative data were transcribed and content analysis was employed in analyzing them. In examining the power structure the study shows that institutions and empowerment have significant correlation with sustainability status of the CBWP. The study also shows that global and national actors have high influence/power in effecting the CBWP critical activities. The local actors are perceived to be powerless; however, the study indicates importance of recognizing them because their position as powerless actors may limit their participation in the CBWP and thus jeopardizing the chances of yielding sustainable CBWP.