This study investigates to what extent urban water security is equitable in a small town in Northern Ethiopia with almost uniform access to piped water services. Development of a household water insecurity index considering issues of quality, quantity, and reliability, demonstrated high spatial variability in water security between households connected to the piped water system.
Inequalities
Modular, adaptive, and decentralised water infrastructure: promises and perils for water justice
This review summarises emerging realities for water insecurity in an era of disruption, and new developments that the authors call modular, adaptive, and decentralised (MAD) water infrastructure. These decentralised models require a justice-oriented framework to unlock the promise of sustainable access to safe, reliable, affordable water supply for a more mobile, just, and resilient world.
Addressing socio-economic inequalities in Lodwar and broader Turkana
This report details outcomes from a workshop in Turkana, Kenya, on ‘Socio-economic aspects of flash floods, water and climate’, held in February 2022. The workshop discussed how water and flood risks relate to socio-economic inequalities, as well as critical gender and intersectionality considerations.
Negotiating spaces of marginality and independence: On women entrepreneurs within Ethiopian urbanization and water precarity
This research article analyses how women strive for and negotiate their independence through spatiality, and how services, specifically water, affect their ability to develop their business spaces. Using evidence from five studies conducted in the small town of Wukro, Ethiopia, the paper suggests water struggles should be analysed not only through the evaluation of water shortages and unequal geographical sectorization but also through the perspective of ‘water precarity’ (Sultana, 2020).
The unequal distribution of water risks and adaptation benefits in coastal Bangladesh
This article uses a stochastic-optimization model to simulate the impact of flood embankment investments on the distribution of agricultural incomes in coastal Bangladesh. The authors find that the risk of crop loss is greatest for the poor, and make the case for planning models to consider interacting benefits and risks within a local political economy to better inform coastal adaptation decisions.
(Re-)orienting the Concept of Water Risk to Better Understand Inequities in Water Security
This research article presents a theoretical framework for embedding water risk in equitable water security considerations, based on analysis of lived water experiences and hyrdosocial drivers in the Awash River basin in Ethiopia.
Sustainable land management, gender, and agricultural productivity
This IFPRI-REACH policy note summarises the results from a study of six learning watersheds in Central and North-Eastern Ethiopia, particularly the gendered differences in the adoption of and investment in sustainable land management practices.
Who does what and why? Examining intra-household water and sanitation decisionmaking and autonomy in Asutifi North, Ghana
This article examines two important aspects of decision-making around WASH: motivations behind a person’s actions, and the extent to which decisions are perceived to be solely or jointly made.
‘They will listen to women who speak but it ends there’: examining empowerment in the context of water and sanitation interventions in Ghana
This study explores the meanings of women’s empowerment in the WASH sector from the perspective of local stakeholders in the Asutifi North District, Ghana.
River pollution and social inequalities in Dhaka, Bangladesh
This study seeks to understand the socio-spatial and seasonal inequalities in pollution risks in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The authors designed a direct observation method to record people’s daily river use activities across dry and wet seasons, complemented by monthly monitoring of river water quality, heavy metal and biotoxicity assessment a large-scale household survey along a 25km stretch of the Turag River and Tongi Khal in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
