Urban Governance and Informal Water Supply Systems: Different Guiding Principles amongst Multilateral Organisations

This paper explores the different urban governance models proposed by multilateral organisations in accessing water through informal supply systems, to assess the rationale and the guiding principles at the basis of their different ‘governance approaches’. There can be no doubt that all developing countries are now experiencing a rapid and unprecedented urban growth, which is entailing a rising demand for urban services, especially those concerning water supply. To cope with this pressing requirement, the response of multilateral organisations – such as the World Bank, UN-HABITAT and the European Union – has been represented by the design and implementation of different urban governance and management systems, called to support an equitable and efficient access to urban water supply services. The paper focuses on the different urban governance approaches through which multilateral donors support informal networks and small scale providers to provide water supply in cities of developing countries. It is highlighted how these different urban governance approaches address the overall issues of poverty reduction but in reality, in certain cases, they also aim to affect and regulate public policies of Third World countries. In particular, it argues that the governance model proposed – and imposed – by the World Bank continues to belong to a neo-liberal policy agenda, which supports above all the free market and considers, in turn, water and urban services as commodities to be managed through widespread competition and market mechanisms. On the contrary, UN-HABITAT and, to a certain extent, the European Union underline the need for an urban governance system that promotes the ownership of development strategies by local communities and that rests on the principles of inclusiveness, sustainability, equity and human rights.