Rural Water Management in Africa: The Impact of Customary Institu ...

Most sociological studies on rural water management in SSA have addressed water management issues without adequately analyzing customary institutions and showing how they affect rural water management. Most studies in river basin management focus on water for irrigation.³³ Few studies have examined how the customary and statutory institutions influence water management for different water uses. This study looks at how the management of water for domestic use differs from the management of water for livestock and small-scale irrigation.

The second weakness in the literature is the failure to analyze the role of women and to understand how customary and statutory institutions affect women’s participation in water management. Few studies have looked at the role of women and their contribution to rural water management. Where scholars have studied this, they have focused on the statutory institutions. There is a need to seek deeper understanding of the role of women in water management and their use of customary institutions in rural areas.³⁴

The third weakness is the absence of studies that compare the effectiveness of the statutory and customary institutions in enforcement of their regulations, resolving natural resource conflicts, and in ensuring access to water for different uses. Although many researchers recognize the importance of customary institutions, they tend to focus their analysis on the statutory institutions for water management. For proper understanding of water management institutions one needs to consider not only formal, but also informal institutions that prevent and prescribe people’s behavior and influence social transmission of information.³⁵ Few studies have done a rigorous comparison of customary and statutory institutions and how they each affect rural water management. Some studies have noted that statutory systems for water management have caused an increase in upstream-downstream conflicts because those who live upstream and pay for the water rights feel that they can use the water any way they like.³⁶ Other studies have observed that many water users rely on customary institutions to settle their water disputes.³⁷ This study investigates the effectiveness of customary institutions as compared to statutory institutions, and examines the nature and pattern of interaction between customary and statutory institutions.