Impact of community participation on sustainability of water supply projects: the case study of Uchira Water Users’ association (UWUA) in Kilimanjaro region, Masters dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam

One of the problems in developing countries is poor water supply and sanitation services. Majority of people have little or no access to clean and safe water. Efforts have been made by governments to combat this problem. In the case of Tanzania, the government had to install, run, operate and manage the water supply and sanitation services without involving the water beneficiaries. This led to lack of commitment by the beneficiaries to safeguard the facilities, unwillingness to contribute to the cost of operation operation and maintenance which altogether compromised the sustainability of schemes. The new Tanzania water policy (2002) addressing issues of private sector NGO’s and community participation intervened to rescue the situation. Thereafter, communities have owned, run and managed their own water supply services. This research aims at assessing the performance of such schemes under the ne water policy as far as sustainability is concerned. A case study of Uchira water user’s Association (UWUA) in Moshi rural Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania has been cited to study the practical implication of the policy in sustainability of water supply services. The methodology entails sample questionnaires and qualitative analysis. It has been found that generally the Uchira Village community to participate, in management of the water supply services and on average, the performance in terms of service delivery and cost recovery is satisfactory. However, participation is in question, lastly recommendations have been pointed out for reinforcing the new water policy or better performance on sustainability of water supply services under community participation