Publication: The Hard Way to the High Road : Transition of Community-based Water Groups to Professional Service Providers in Indonesia
Date
2011-01
ISSN
Published
2011-01
Author(s)
Sy, Jemima
Abstract
As significant numbers of Indonesian
villages are outside the reach of utility service, since the
1990s the Government of Indonesia (Government) has been
supporting the construction of village water infrastructure
to be managed by users through community-based water
organizations (CBOs). Emphasizing project ownership and
democratic involvement, community-based management is
thought to allow systems to be better maintained and
operated post-project. Although community involvement in
water supply has been going on through national projects in
Indonesia for years, it was not until 2004, through the
Water Resources Law, when the role of CBOs in water supply
development was formally recognized. Before 2004, most
policy pronouncements and official project documents
considered CBOs to be a vehicle for project implementation
rather than a long-standing approach to rural water
development and management. The perhaps unexpected success
of some CBOs is fomenting a discussion among policy-makers
and project designers around whether CBOs might not
transition from the original concept of a post-construction
'coping mechanism' into a real engine for
accelerating access to water in rural areas through a
service-oriented enterprise of the community. Using the
project inputs as genuine start-up capital, can CBOs create
value? Is there sustainability after project? And if there
is, what can be done to encourage more of it?
Citation
“Sy, Jemima. 2011. The Hard Way to the High Road : Transition of Community-based Water Groups to Professional Service Providers in Indonesia. Water and Sanitation Program : Learning Note. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/4e65ba89-1b18-5f08-aa83-81bfe558e0ea License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”