Improving Drinking Water Access and Equity in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
In 2020, 771 million people worldwide still lacked access to clean drinking water, according to UNICEF and the World Health Organization.
For this reason, many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) prioritize building new water projects, including handpumps and small piped systems, to bring clean water to rural areas of developing countries.
Research on Drinking Water Access in Rural Areas
New research from Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, the Greg and Patty Fox Collegiate Professor of IT, Analytics and Operations in the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, examines the critical problem of drinking water access in rural areas of developing countries and recommends optimal locations to build new water projects.
The study, titled “Improving Drinking Water Access and Equity in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa,” forthcoming in the journal Production and Operations Management, focuses on access to drinking water in Tigray, Ethiopia. This region faces challenges as millions of people have to walk for hours each day to access communal water. The research, co-authored by Chengcheng Zhai, Kurt Bretthauer, and Jorge Mejia from Indiana University, is based on field research conducted in Tigray and collaborations with local and international NGOs.
The Burden of Water Access
According to Pedraza-Martinez, the burden of getting water falls mostly on women and children. They often have to carry heavy jerrycans full of water for long distances under scorching hot weather conditions.
Community Collaboration for Water Projects
Due to a lack of local government solutions, NGOs build water projects that extract underground water to reduce the population’s distance and time to access it. In collaboration with U.S. NGO charity: water and Ethiopian NGO Relief Society of Tigray, the research team aimed to understand the roles of different stakeholders.
Building water projects is expensive and funding is scarce. NGOs must select locations for new water projects while navigating tight budget constraints and limited access to data on demand locations. The team discovered that communities actively participate in the management of existing water projects. Therefore, they propose that two neighboring communities collaborate and pool their demand to increase the potential supply for both communities.
Optimization Models for Water Access
The research team created a unique dataset with current demand and distance to an existing water project in Tigray. Using analytics, they built an optimization model that incorporates community collaboration. They compared this model with the current practice of serving each community separately.
The community collaboration model proved to be a better solution in terms of distance to water and equity in access to water. The “minimax” model aimed to minimize the maximum distance to water, while the equitable allocation model adjusted the budget allocations to assign more funds to beneficiaries who are further from water.
Removing Geopolitical Boundaries for Water Access
When Ethiopian communities collaborate to access water as a single, larger community, it removes geopolitical boundaries for water purposes. This allows people living on the outskirts of one community to have the option of walking a shorter distance to another community to use a hand pump or other water source. Cooperation between communities is an effective solution to reduce distance and increase equity in water access.
Impact and Future Plans
The research findings are being shared with charity: water, which is using the new model to inform the selection of locations for new water projects in various countries. The team also plans to publish a pedagogical case study to share their research findings with MBA programs worldwide.
Contact Information
Contact: Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, 574-631-8734, apedraz2@nd.edu
SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
| SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation | 6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all | Number of people with access to clean drinking water |
| SDG 5: Gender Equality | 5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate | Gender distribution of the burden of fetching water |
| SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals | 17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships | Collaboration between NGOs and local communities |
1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?
- SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
The article discusses the lack of access to clean drinking water in rural areas of developing countries, which is directly related to SDG 6. It also highlights the burden of fetching water falling mostly on women and children, addressing the issue of gender equality (SDG 5). Additionally, the article mentions the collaboration between NGOs and local communities to address the water access problem, which aligns with SDG 17.
2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?
- Target 6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
- Target 5.4: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate
- Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
The article emphasizes the need to achieve universal access to safe drinking water (Target 6.1). It also highlights the gendered burden of fetching water, indicating the importance of recognizing and valuing unpaid care work (Target 5.4). Furthermore, the collaboration between NGOs and local communities is in line with the target of promoting effective partnerships (Target 17.17).
3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?
- Number of people with access to clean drinking water
- Gender distribution of the burden of fetching water
- Collaboration between NGOs and local communities
The article mentions that 771 million people worldwide still lack access to clean drinking water, indicating that the number of people with access to clean drinking water can be used as an indicator to measure progress towards Target 6.1. The article also highlights the burden falling mostly on women and children, suggesting that the gender distribution of the burden of fetching water can be used as an indicator for Target 5.4. Additionally, the collaboration between NGOs and local communities is an indicator of progress towards Target 17.17.
4. Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
| SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation | 6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all | Number of people with access to clean drinking water |
| SDG 5: Gender Equality | 5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate | Gender distribution of the burden of fetching water |
| SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals | 17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships | Collaboration between NGOs and local communities |
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Source: news.nd.edu
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