Community managed rural water supply : experiences from participatory action research in Kenya , Cameroon , Nepal , Pakistan , Guatemala and

At the Earth Summit (UNCED, 1992), in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, world leaders committed themselves to a comprehensive programme to bring sustainable water supply and sanitation services to the hundreds of millions of people who currently lack them. All States and support agencies were urged to implement activities aiming for universal coverage outlined in Agenda 21, a strategy for sustainable development in the 21st century. A guiding principle of Agenda 21 is: 'Community management of services, backed by measures to strengthen local institutions in implementing and sustaining water and sanitation programmes'. Experience in many developing countries shows that even the best run water agencies cannot successfully implement, operate and maintain a network of widely dispersed water systems without the full involvement and commitment of the users. Despite the best endeavours of central agencies, staff, transport and budgets become overstretched, leading to broken down systems, dissatisfied consumers and demoralised agency personnel. However, agencies which make the transition from being providers to facilitators of communities can divert resources currently swallowed up in the provision and maintenance of inefficient services and use them to bring greater cost-effectiveness and more widespread and sustainable benefits. Reducing the need for reconstruction