Locating community participation in a water supply project-the Galanefhi Water Project (Eritrea)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2186609 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Solomon Haile Gebremedhin (Yahoo (United Kingdom)), Francois Theron (0000-0002-4633-1767, Stellenbosch University) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 20-28 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology Southern Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2332-3264 • E-ISSN: 2332-3256 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23323256.2007.11499943 |
| OpenAlex | W2269254085 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 15 |
Water projects, like sustainable development projects in general, often tend to become unsustainable because they are guided by top-down strategies which exclude the input, influence and ownership of projects by their beneficiaries. For attaining sustainable development, the social capital of communities must be harnessed—beneficiaries of development need to be conscientised through a process of establishing self-awareness that their indigenous knowledge can lead to empowering participation and sustainable development. The international call for the participation of project beneficiaries places participation, as a people-centred strategy, within the capacity-building debate—beneficiaries should not only have a stake in projects, they ideally should own it. This 'new', even controversial, emphasis on participation calls for a re-assessment of participation as a capacity-building and empowerment strategy. The article evaluates the effect of participation in a water supply project in Eritrea, designating some of the related issues within the participation debate. The aim of the article is not to cover the total rural context of the case study, only the specific relationship between water project implementation and participatory development.The article concludes with general and specific recommendations, inter alia with regard to the need for a role to be played by anthropologists in project planning; the need for introducing participatory action research methodology and a call for a decentralised decision-making process which reconstructs the social capital of communities, enabling people-centred, bottom-up participation and capacity-building of the beneficiaries of development
Business · Capacity building · Citizen journalism · Community development · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Empowerment · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Indigenous · Participatory action research · Participatory development · Political science · Social capital · Sustainable development · African history and culture analysis · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2012 (2) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |