Documento(s) 11 de 17

The paper begins with an overview of the current water-use policy in Kenya and covers the following issues: 

• targets for coverage (the government had hoped to meet the target of providing safe water for the entire population by the year 2000 — this, clearly, will not be met); 
• tariff and metering policy; 
• management of equity schemes; 
• water demand projection; 
• water quality monitoring; 
• management of water demand; 
• wastewater control; 
• water tariff levels; 
• water conservation; and 
• sanitation. 

• Women are usually not equal partners when communities create property rights over any resource.

"It is optimistic to assume that vesting ownership of a water source in the community will give women equal rights over the resource, and far more likely that the creation of ownership rights will confer opportunities for the rich and powerful to appropriate preferential access to the resource." 
• As women in Kenya often do not participate equally in decision-making over family expenditures, they are in a disadvantaged position in trying to influence expenditure on options which will reduce the amount of time and labour necessary to collect the family water supply.

"The ‘family' decision may not attach much weight to the aspirations of women to reduce the burden on themselves. This ‘family'decision process is almost certain to change over time and there will be a growing desire, at the same income and price levels, to reduce the time and effort spent on gathering water." 

The survey

Sample characteristics

• The area has many migrants from outside and relatively high levels of household income. 
• There was a total of 66 respondents, 36 (54.5%) women, most aged between 21 and 40. 
• 75.8% of the households were headed by men, although data analysis showed that women were the actual economic household heads in almost 35% of the cases. 
• Mean household size was 5 to10 people, although one-quarter had more than 11. 
• There was a high level of literacy, with 47% of respondents having some secondary education, and only 12% no education at all. 
• Women respondents tended to have education levels than male respondents. 
• Most respondent households owned their land, but in 76% of the cases, the owners were males (reflecting the gender bias in asset ownership). 

• Most users pay for access to irrigation water, but it is a flat rate of about 3.00 USD per year regardless of the amount of water actually used. 
• Collecting water from a common point is mostly women's and children's work. 
• Most of the households (96%) irrigate their crops. 
• The labour associated with irrigation activities was divided as follows: women (44%); men (29%); workers (14%); and children (12%). 
• The labour is not arduous, but it is time-consuming, and has to be done about three to four times per week. 
• Most people do not have access to an adequate water supply for their irrigation needs. 

• Women usually make decisions on domestic water: where it is to be obtained, who will fetch it, how much is to be fetched, and how it is to be conserved (76% women, 21% men, 3% children). 
• Women make decisions on general household investments, including minor irrigation work. 
• Major investment decisions are made by men on behalf of the household, as with decisions on the purchase of land, cattle and fertilizer, or the rental of tractors. However, in many cases there is some participation by women. 

• 92% of the households irrigate at night and 85% of them reported that this caused the following problems for women: fear of attack by thugs; exposure to cold in the night; conflict with household commitments such as childcare; and harassment by men.

"Women who have to irrigate at night complained that men harass them by diverting water illegally to their farms. Women find it difficult to police the water canals to prevent such harassment and are unable to deter the men except when they catch them. It was reported that such harassment is rarely directed to men, for this would provoke a fight." 
• Access to water by livestock was poor, as was access for washing.

"Since women are the ones who normally do the washing and also the herding of livestock, they are the ones inconvenienced most by the poor design of the water supply system. If women had been consulted during the design stage of the water supply system most of these problems would have been avoided by providing troughs for watering animals and facilities for washing and bathing at convenient spots." 
• Women have difficulty making their views known to the local water committees.

"These problems were: (i) fear of expressing themselves in front of men during meetings of groups that manage the water; (ii) inadequate representation of women on the committees of the water management groups; and (iii) inability of most women to attend meetings because they were too busy with household chores." 
• During periods of water shortage (drought) there is competition for scarce resources. Respondents said that those who got the most water were: those closest to the main furrow or canal (24%); the most aggressive individuals and lawbreakers (24%); the wealthy and influential (15%); men (15%). Therefore access to water is not equitable during periods of shortages. 
• 99% of those who police the water supply are men and the majority of respondents said these officers were unfair or corrupt. This perception aggravates the lack of equity. 
• Women played key roles in seed planting, crop breeding, and carrying agricultural produce to the market, but men shared in keeping the proceeds of the crops. 

• 83% of the respondents belonged to a water access group. 
• Groups tended to have around 50 members and the large size was often a source of water conflict (e.g., illegal water diversion) in times of water shortages. 

Analysis

• The flat rates are too low to act as effective means of WDM; but if metered charges were introduced, poor farmers would be disadvantaged and perhaps not be able to afford adequate irrigation for their crops. 
• Abstracting of water for irrigation tends to happen at night because priority is given to water for domestic and livestock use. 
• Women tend to be disadvantaged because they are reluctant to irrigate at night. Also, since women are grossly under-represented on the water management committees, they have no way of seeking redress. 
• The wealthy and powerful are able to influence those who police the system, causing more inequity. They also have undue influence on water management committees and often are able to obtain more abstraction rights than others. 

Solutions

• Decentralization of the control of the water demand management function. Control should be vested in the community rather than with government officers. 
• Sensitization of the community on the need to mainstream women's participation in water supply design and demand management activities. Women should be encouraged to attend meetings and vie for leadership positions in the groups. Then meeting times could be changed and women's special circumstances considered when irrigation times are assigned. Entrusting local water management committees with the policing of the water supply system. This measure would ensure that preference is not given to the wealthiest. 
• The water rates should be changed so that they discourage wasteful use of available water. 

Documento(s) 11 de 17