Seeking Water Security for Sustainable Livelihoods

There is nothing like a severe drought to concentrate people minds on water! The very bad drought of 1992 gave birth to the setting up of national and regional drought fora, to new forms of funding directly to CBOs, and to an initiative that grew into what is today the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD).

The infant organisation at the time was the Water Information Project (WIP) at the Wits Rural Facility (WRF), which set out to gather and disseminate information on water in the Bushbuckridge area, situated then within both Lebowa and Gazankulu. In response to the crisis of the drought WIP began to also implement village water projects in 1993.

This time was characterised by a major upheaval in South Africa (SA), in all of our governing frameworks – from the constitution to the various policies that underscored the country’s commitment, to a new, free and fair country. Since its inception these changes within the country have influenced and moulded AWARD to what it is today, a multi-disciplinary NGO.

Between 1996 and 1998, AWARD separated itself institutionally from Wits University and became a stand-alone NGO with a focus on water both as a service, ie the supply of water, and as a resource. This is done within the framework of Integrated Catchment Management as well as new water laws and policies, and in the specific context of the Sand River Catchment.

In 1999 AWARD began to coordinate the Save the Sand Project – an innovative and collaborative pilot for Integrated Catchment Management, to address the rehabilitation and sustainability of the Sand River catchment in comprehensive manner and part of AWARD’s bid for equitable allocation of water.

AWARD’s vision is seeing that the Sabie-Sand Catchment will stand as a model of sustainable social, environmental and economic development.

An Amphibious Leader 
Tessa Cousins, AWARD part-time Executive Director, has been associated with the organisation since 1994 when she was appointed as the chair of the external advisory committee. In 1996 she became the first chair of the board of directors and has since been appointed into the Executive Directorship position in 2002.

Cousins has interests in water and land. Her interest began when she was a farmer growing apricots in the Karoo. From there she got involved in development work, first in Lesotho, then with a farmers’ cooperative near Mtubatuba, after which she joined the Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA), which had a specific focus on land reform.

In the past four to five years Cousins has been working with both AWARD and the Legal Entity Assessment Project (LEAP) as an Executive Director for one and as a Coordinator for the other. In light of her background, Cousins has used her knowledge of these two fields of development and research to identify the linkages between land tenure and water resource management. “I see myself as having one foot in water and another in land,” she says.

Cousins relates South Africa’s key development challenges to the inconsistency between the richness of our resources and the lack of services and management for poor people’s interests.

Managing Water to Address Water Security
AWARD’s mission is to develop and test new and appropriate ways of managing water to address issues of water security in the catchment, both through wise resource management and equitable allocation.

The organisation defines it geographical boundary as that of the physical water catchment of the Sand River. However, water services are organised along political boundaries. This separation of the way water resources are seen and need to be managed, and the way water services are organised, is a tension that runs right through the sector, and is expressed in the country’s laws, policies and the structure of the Department of water Affairs and Forestry itself. Cousins states that water has to be understood across the many layers of physical, environmental, social, institutional and economic elements.

The Department of Water Affairs and Local Municipalities state that SA is on track for Millennium Goals in relation to water services. In 2005, Tumelo Modisane and David Masango writing for BuaNews reported that “households with access to clean water increased from 60% in 1995 to 85% in 2003. By December 2004, 10-million South Africans had access to clean water.”

In contrast to the official position, Cousins refers to the villages in Bushbuckridge, saying that “To our despair the water situation hasn’t changed much in the rural villages we’ve worked with since 1993.” She notes that from recent work in one ward, of the 13 villages only two of them have reliable water supply, while the rest regularly go for two to three weeks without water at a time. She maintains that “In our area, we are still far too far away from reaching the MDGs.”

Cousins contends that the institutional changes that accompanied the democratic transition are taking far longer than anticipated to put in place, and this has fundamentally affected water service delivery. The final institutional arrangements for the area are still not finalised, leaving the role of Village Water Committees very unclear. The changes between provinces (first form Mpumalanga to Limpopo, and now back again to Mpumalanga) have been disruptive – for example small things like flows of spare parts to fix engines became major blockages. Once these arrangements have finally settled down then Cousins, says, they hope building of capacity can really take place.

Cousins argues that to really address water security requires a more holistic and integrated approach to water. AWARD seeks to promote this in all projects. One such project is the on-going action-research programme called Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods (SWELL). This is an approach that employs participatory methodologies in order to engage both villagers and service providers in processes of enquiry, knowledge exchange and learning in order to plan for water services that consider multiple uses. SWELL has been developed and consolidated as an approach over the last few years, and been applied in Ward 16 of the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality.

A Few Bumps Along the Way
Cousins notes that project funding has not been easy in the last five years. She identifies the tendency for donors to lean towards short-term, partial funding as a major problem for the organisation. In her view, “Funders expect a lot in a very short period of time rather than having a longer term view.”

She maintains that if donors were willing to fund projects for a longer period, i.e three to five years, AWARD and other NGOs that find themselves in the same precarious situation would work more effectively, rather than constantly worrying about securing and managing short term projects

Like most NGOs, AWARD has over the years experienced a very high employee turn-over, with many staff moving on to employment in government and private sector. Currently there is a small staff contingent of seven, which is what can be maintained on current funding levels. The general insecurity associated with this sector does contribute to staff turnover, as the work that they do is very demanding but the employees are not assured of long-term financial security. To overcome the demand for capacity, AWARD has entered into partnerships with other NGOs, academic and research institutions and consultants, both in South Africa and internationally.

The other major challenge Cousins identifies is the long institutional transition and weak municipal and local departmental capacity. To overcome this challenge, AWARD recognises that it needs to meet on a regular basis with the establishing institutions, and to constantly seek appropriate ways to build relationships, with the view of assisting both the organisation and the municipality understand the work done by the other party better.

AWARD will continue working in partnership with other role players to ensure the effective implementation of current policies to benefit the communities. Cousins asserts, “We will continue working with all the relevant structures, including the local municipality”

An Organisation Rejuvenated
Cousins is optimistic that the country will make progress in addressing the problem of water security in both rural and urban areas – allowing it to shift gear from being an NGO that pilots the practicalities of implementing policy, to becoming a “support” to those whose jobs it is to implement innovative policies. “I would like to see the organization recognized as a support to government and community organizations in innovation and learning, rather than one seeking contracts to make a living by delivering services, which tends to be how NGOs in the water sector are seen,” she says.

Ultimately, Cousins hope that, “In the next five to ten years, AWARD’s current services and expertise will no longer be needed, as the lessons we are working on will have been taken up – but who knows what new challenges lie ahead? I believe it is for NGOs to remain on the cutting edge, using their flexibility to chart new waters.”

Pictures: Courtsy of AWARD.

– Butjwana Seokoma and Badumile Duma, Civil Society Information Coordinators, SANGONeT.

Seeking Water Security for Sustainable Livelihoods

There is nothing like a severe drought to concentrate people minds on water! The very bad drought of 1992 gave birth to the setting up of national and regional drought fora, to new forms of funding directly to CBOs, and to an initiative that grew into what is today the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD).

The infant organisation at the time was the Water Information Project (WIP) at the Wits Rural Facility (WRF), which set out to gather and disseminate information on water in the Bushbuckridge area, situated then within both Lebowa and Gazankulu. In response to the crisis of the drought WIP began to also implement village water projects in 1993.

This time was characterised by a major upheaval in South Africa (SA), in all of our governing frameworks – from the constitution to the various policies that underscored the country’s commitment, to a new, free and fair country. Since its inception these changes within the country have influenced and moulded AWARD to what it is today, a multi-disciplinary NGO.

Between 1996 and 1998, AWARD separated itself institutionally from Wits University and became a stand-alone NGO with a focus on water both as a service, ie the supply of water, and as a resource. This is done within the framework of Integrated Catchment Management as well as new water laws and policies, and in the specific context of the Sand River Catchment.

In 1999 AWARD began to coordinate the Save the Sand Project – an innovative and collaborative pilot for Integrated Catchment Management, to address the rehabilitation and sustainability of the Sand River catchment in comprehensive manner and part of AWARD’s bid for equitable allocation of water.

AWARD’s vision is seeing that the Sabie-Sand Catchment will stand as a model of sustainable social, environmental and economic development.

An Amphibious Leader 
Tessa Cousins, AWARD part-time Executive Director, has been associated with the organisation since 1994 when she was appointed as the chair of the external advisory committee. In 1996 she became the first chair of the board of directors and has since been appointed into the Executive Directorship position in 2002.

Cousins has interests in water and land. Her interest began when she was a farmer growing apricots in the Karoo. From there she got involved in development work, first in Lesotho, then with a farmers’ cooperative near Mtubatuba, after which she joined the Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA), which had a specific focus on land reform.

In the past four to five years Cousins has been working with both AWARD and the Legal Entity Assessment Project (LEAP) as an Executive Director for one and as a Coordinator for the other. In light of her background, Cousins has used her knowledge of these two fields of development and research to identify the linkages between land tenure and water resource management. “I see myself as having one foot in water and another in land,” she says.

Cousins relates South Africa’s key development challenges to the inconsistency between the richness of our resources and the lack of services and management for poor people’s interests.

Managing Water to Address Water Security
AWARD’s mission is to develop and test new and appropriate ways of managing water to address issues of water security in the catchment, both through wise resource management and equitable allocation.

The organisation defines it geographical boundary as that of the physical water catchment of the Sand River. However, water services are organised along political boundaries. This separation of the way water resources are seen and need to be managed, and the way water services are organised, is a tension that runs right through the sector, and is expressed in the country’s laws, policies and the structure of the Department of water Affairs and Forestry itself. Cousins states that water has to be understood across the many layers of physical, environmental, social, institutional and economic elements.

The Department of Water Affairs and Local Municipalities state that SA is on track for Millennium Goals in relation to water services. In 2005, Tumelo Modisane and David Masango writing for BuaNews reported that “households with access to clean water increased from 60% in 1995 to 85% in 2003. By December 2004, 10-million South Africans had access to clean water.”

In contrast to the official position, Cousins refers to the villages in Bushbuckridge, saying that “To our despair the water situation hasn’t changed much in the rural villages we’ve worked with since 1993.” She notes that from recent work in one ward, of the 13 villages only two of them have reliable water supply, while the rest regularly go for two to three weeks without water at a time. She maintains that “In our area, we are still far too far away from reaching the MDGs.”

Cousins contends that the institutional changes that accompanied the democratic transition are taking far longer than anticipated to put in place, and this has fundamentally affected water service delivery. The final institutional arrangements for the area are still not finalised, leaving the role of Village Water Committees very unclear. The changes between provinces (first form Mpumalanga to Limpopo, and now back again to Mpumalanga) have been disruptive – for example small things like flows of spare parts to fix engines became major blockages. Once these arrangements have finally settled down then Cousins, says, they hope building of capacity can really take place.

Cousins argues that to really address water security requires a more holistic and integrated approach to water. AWARD seeks to promote this in all projects. One such project is the on-going action-research programme called Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods (SWELL). This is an approach that employs participatory methodologies in order to engage both villagers and service providers in processes of enquiry, knowledge exchange and learning in order to plan for water services that consider multiple uses. SWELL has been developed and consolidated as an approach over the last few years, and been applied in Ward 16 of the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality.

A Few Bumps Along the Way
Cousins notes that project funding has not been easy in the last five years. She identifies the tendency for donors to lean towards short-term, partial funding as a major problem for the organisation. In her view, “Funders expect a lot in a very short period of time rather than having a longer term view.”

She maintains that if donors were willing to fund projects for a longer period, i.e three to five years, AWARD and other NGOs that find themselves in the same precarious situation would work more effectively, rather than constantly worrying about securing and managing short term projects

Like most NGOs, AWARD has over the years experienced a very high employee turn-over, with many staff moving on to employment in government and private sector. Currently there is a small staff contingent of seven, which is what can be maintained on current funding levels. The general insecurity associated with this sector does contribute to staff turnover, as the work that they do is very demanding but the employees are not assured of long-term financial security. To overcome the demand for capacity, AWARD has entered into partnerships with other NGOs, academic and research institutions and consultants, both in South Africa and internationally.

The other major challenge Cousins identifies is the long institutional transition and weak municipal and local departmental capacity. To overcome this challenge, AWARD recognises that it needs to meet on a regular basis with the establishing institutions, and to constantly seek appropriate ways to build relationships, with the view of assisting both the organisation and the municipality understand the work done by the other party better.

AWARD will continue working in partnership with other role players to ensure the effective implementation of current policies to benefit the communities. Cousins asserts, “We will continue working with all the relevant structures, including the local municipality”

An Organisation Rejuvenated
Cousins is optimistic that the country will make progress in addressing the problem of water security in both rural and urban areas – allowing it to shift gear from being an NGO that pilots the practicalities of implementing policy, to becoming a “support” to those whose jobs it is to implement innovative policies. “I would like to see the organization recognized as a support to government and community organizations in innovation and learning, rather than one seeking contracts to make a living by delivering services, which tends to be how NGOs in the water sector are seen,” she says.

Ultimately, Cousins hope that, “In the next five to ten years, AWARD’s current services and expertise will no longer be needed, as the lessons we are working on will have been taken up – but who knows what new challenges lie ahead? I believe it is for NGOs to remain on the cutting edge, using their flexibility to chart new waters.”

Pictures: Courtsy of AWARD.

– Butjwana Seokoma and Badumile Duma, Civil Society Information Coordinators, SANGONeT.