Managing rural water systems: keys to success

Why are some communities effective at providing safe drinking water, while others fail?

In many rural communities around the world, villagers contest the policy prescription that all drinking water systems must be controlled by the central government or private actors. In Central America, a decentralized approach has developed, where approximately 25,000 community-based drinking water organizations are responsible for providing water in rural and peri-urban communities. But not all communities have the capacity to govern their local systems in a decentralized fashion.