Nandita Singh, Gunnar Jacks and Prosun Bhattacharya / Natural Resources Forum 29 (2005) 213–223 213 © 2005 United Nations. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Natural Resources Forum 29 (2005) 213–223 Women and community water supply programmes: An analysis from a socio-cultural perspective Nandita Singh, Gunnar Jacks and Prosun Bhattacharya Abstract Community water supply programmes are seen as instrumental in achieving the goal of ‘safe’ water for all. Women, a principal target group of these programmes, are to be benefited with greater convenience, enhanced socio-cultural oppor- tunities and better health for themselves and their families, provided through improved water facilities. Water supply programmes largely consist of three essential components, namely: technology, people and institutions. Although such programmes are intended to benefit women members of local communities, scant attention is paid to the impacts of the socio-cultural context of the community on these programmes. This article explores the influence of social and cultural intricacies on the implementation of community water supply programmes, and assesses their effectiveness. The article offers important lessons for the design and implementation of this type of programme. It concludes that the local socio- cultural context sets the stage for programme implementation, being a dynamic factor that determines actual access to water sources, more so than mere physical availability, which is often used as a criterion for programme performance. The article stresses the urgent need to integrate socio-cultural factors as a fourth dimension in designing community water supply programmes, and suggests practical measures for enhancing the effectiveness of such programmes. Keywords: Community water supply programmes; Women; Water; Socio-cultural context; Gender; Caste; Social dynamics; Programme implementation. recognized and reiterated thereafter at several global forums. 1 At the global level, it is recognized that women’s basic need is having access to an improved, convenient, reliable and safe source of water close to their home. With a focus on this aspect, community water supply programmes (CWSP) have been initiated throughout the developing world, aiming at providing women with improved water supply technologies. Action under this concern was inten- sified during the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade 1981–1990 (IDWSSD) (Elmendorf and Isely, 1983; Deshingkar, 1995; Kalbermatten, 1991). In India, too, the IDWSSD and even the era preceding it, have seen tremendous emphasis on installing improved water supply technologies all over the country. Community water supply programmes were designed and implemented by dif- ferent agencies — State, non-governmental or private — either independently or in partnership. In India, the State has largely shouldered the responsibility for rural water supply, attempting to reach out to every rural pocket across the length 1. Introduction 1.1. Background Community water supply programmes are perceived to be instrumental in extending access to improved water supply for all. Women have been identified as a major group of beneficiaries, being primary users of domestic water, the objective being to bring greater convenience and enhanced socio-economic opportunities to women, and thus ensure better health for women users and their families. The con- cern with women’s water needs arises from the global recognition of the centrality of women’s role as water pro- viders and managers, which began at the 1977 UN Water Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina (UNESCO, 2003), Nandita Singh is Research Scientist at the Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. E-mail: nandita@kth.se. Gunnar Jacks is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, KTH, Stockholm. E-mail: gunnjack@kth.se. Prosun Bhattacharya is Associate Professor at the Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, KTH, Stockholm. E-mail: prosun@kth.se. 1 Such a concern is reflected in the New Delhi Statement (UNDP, 1990); Dublin Statement (1992) and Ministerial Declaration and Bonn Recom- mendations for Action (2001) (Appleton and Smout, 2003), to name a few.