Institutional factors engendering dissonance between customary and statutory institutions in water access in the Okavang
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Institutional factors engendering dissonance between customary and statutory institutions in water access in the Okavango Delta, Botswana Reniko Gondo1 · Oluwatoyin D. Kolawole1,2 Received: 9 August 2019 / Accepted: 28 September 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract The pervasive entrenchment of Western traditions in Africa continues to fuel the contradiction existing between customary and statutory water institutions on the continent. The paper addresses factors promoting the discord between customary and statutory institutions in water access in the Shakawe, Tubu and Shorobe in the Okavango Delta. Adopting an expert and homogeneous purposive sampling procedure, a total of 455 household heads, 44 community elders and 17 government officials were sampled in three rural villages in the Okavango Delta. Data were collected using key informant interviews, focused group discussions (FGDs) as well as household interview schedules. While quantitative data were analysed using descriptive (frequency, percentages) and inferential statistics (Kruskal–Wallis test, Mann–Whitney U test), content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings revealed that there was a conflict between customary and statutory water management institutions in relation to how people in the study area accessed water. Keywords Access · Household · Dissonance · Okavango Delta · Institutions
Introduction Notwithstanding all the efforts meant to improve access to water across the globe (see Meeks 2018), inaccessibility to water resources continues to plague several of the world’s poorest rural populations (Nastiti et al. 2017; Ablo & Yekple 2018). The United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (UNWWAP) (2015) affirms that 748 million people lack access to safe drinking water. Statistics also show that 1.6 million people die every year from waterborne diseases in developing countries (WWAP 2015; Meeks 2018). The United Nations (UN) (2015) regards access to water as essential for full enjoyment of life. Water access indicators include distance, time and quantity among others. * Reniko Gondo [email protected] Oluwatoyin D. Kolawole [email protected] 1
University of Botswana Okavango Research Institute, Maun, Botswana
Adjunct Faculty, College of Health and Social Sciences (CHSS), Eastern University, St Davids, Pennsylvania, USA
2
Whereas distance entails the area travelled in kilometres to access water, time (in hours) implies walking duration from the water user’s home to a water source. However, the anticipated optimal distance covered and time required to access water vary across nations and water-related institutions. For instance, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2008) advocates that water sources should be within 1000 m from the user’s home and collection time not exceeding 30 min, the African Development Bank (ADB) sets 500 m as maximum distance to a water point and 30 min as the go, wait, collect and return time (Salami et al. 2014; Mwamaso 2015). The glob
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