Alternatives to improve role of women and reduce poverty

Rural women should be left to manage their water resources using their traditional methods as these have proved to be successful for them. Women have a particular need for information on possibilities for participation and on their legal rights, in order to enhance their bargaining power Francis et al. 2001. Therefore educating women about the existing opportunities for their participation may lead to the improvement of their roles in practice. All institutions in the water sector, including NGOs, should have clear gender policies, include a gender perspective in their organisation culture and practices and address strategic gender needs through training, education and supporting productive use of water. Well-planned water programs offer a real opportunity for women to exercise authority and leadership within a community and to extend their influence beyond community level to address the strategic needs of women in the water sector. To ensure quality representation of women‟s interests in decision-making bodies and management structures, careful analysis is required to ensure equality in the distribution of work, paid opportunities, skills-development and capacity building initiatives, as well in as the benefits of any planned action. Affirmative action to promote self confidence and the expression of their ideas should be done alongside participation. Water managers should be trained in how to enable an inclusive dialogue on water issues Treating gender as a marginal issue and relegating the concerns to gender desk or consultants will make real change difficult. There is need for know-how, interest, or commitment on the part of those responsible for implementation of water policy. There is need to promote more transparent systems of allocation and accountability that report gender-based information, allow for and promote gender sensitive participation, and analyse water budget effects on women‟s welfare. Gender blindness still exists among decision makers and this could be due to a traditional point of view that assumes that communities are homogeneous. There is need for education about and research about heterogeneity and assortment of individuals and groups who command different levels of power, wealth, influence and ability to express their needs, concerns and rights. Cultural gender stereotypes need to be ironed out. In most cases, women and poor find it hard to speak out about their water problems and needs. Formal administration and decision- making are misconceived as men‟s work even though women may manage water in practice. In these situations, women‟s interests and concerns are ignored and their roles within the water system are lost. This misconception need to be ironed out. Well targeted services can improve the health and security of women and their families, and free them to engage in social, economic, and political activities, thus tackling „time poverty.‟ Time povert y is defined as the situation where women‟s time is inflexible, consumed by routine and non-productive tasks, perpetuating their absence from decision making and other profitable pursuits. A water reticulation policy that is sensitive to women‟s needs would have more public water points located near their homes, preferring connections within their houses, so as to reduce the time and energy spent on the acquisition of water. Distant water facilities increase women‟s and girls‟ workloads, sometimes placing severe stress on their health and their capacity to take advantage of educational and training opportunities. Disparities in access to water between rural and urban need to be ironed out not by channelling rural water resources into cities as is being done, but through serving people with what they need. More resources channelled towards building boreholes and wells will improve access to water by the rural thereby helping them break out of poverty. A pro poor approach to water management is desirable to solve the country‟s water woes and at the same time tackle poverty. Otherwise, left to compete freely neoliberal practises win over the social agenda and the poor suffer. A demand based approach with a privatised on profit water company has not by any means always provided the required result, let alone where it is a monopoly like the case of ZINWA. Studies demonstrate that private companies in a non-competitive market for mostly a monopoly situation is involved are not necessarily more efficient than other forms of management. Abuses and corruption occur in the private sector too. In many cases water price multiplied after privatisation of the drinking water sector: e.g. Indonesia, Bolivia, Argentina, and the Philippines. Tariff systems that are both affordable and economically sustainable in the socio-economic context of a population should be created, that don‟t burden the poor and women at the advantage of the rich male dominated productive users. According to Nhapi 2009, Harare cannot overcome its water-related problems under the current set-up. He recommends that a corporatised body, free from political influence and with a higher degree of autonomy, be established to run the water services for Harare and the neighbouring towns. To preserve the scarce water supplies requires recognition of urban –rural water cycle linkages and holistic, coordinated, and equitable regional policies and practices that support ecosystem function Showers 2002. This also applies to local policies.

4.8 Conceptualisation

This study conceptualises that because of power relations and politicisation of the water environment, it impossible to have a water policy that is fair to all. The water sector will remain dominated by the more powerful actors unless supporting policies are put in place to support the weaker actors. This too will result in marginalisation of other actors that will take the position of the position of weaker actors. Arguments and projects in management of natural resources including water are simultaneously political- economic projects and vice versa. They are never politically or socially neural. Politics and power relations shape the water environment. According to Bryant and Bailey 2000 understanding these power relations is key to solving these problems. In the case of the water environment in Zimbabwe, this study conceptualises that stronger actors exert control over weaker actors women and poor by reducingcontrolling their access to the resource. This is so as to make sure that economic benefits associated with its exploitation accrue mostly to the actor in question. The state in a way through ZINWA and the ministry as well as the powers it has over catchment councils determine who uses water, under what conditions and for what purposes. So does business representatives in water management bodies. In the third world including Zimbabwe, this marginalisation and vulnerability is done through prioritization of certain projects or problems. Business and private sector as well as outsiders can influence the prioritization of certain projects that are beneficial to them at the expense of other actors. The poor and women find themselves being relegated and marginalised indirectly in the water environment through discursive means. The neoliberalisation model in the water sector is a not so innocent idea that challenges the existing economic and social arrangement. However, it seems to be the winner in the battle of ideas in the water environment for the triumph of other actors other than the poor. Women also find themselves as losers. Water scarcity was found to be more severe in low income than in high income suburbs. This was a consequence of the city‟s skewed water distribution policy which favoured the former and failure by residents of the latter to invest in safer water alternatives. Per capita water consumption in both suburbs was below internationally recommended levels Nyemba et al. 2010. As long as the drive still comes from the top and outside, it is less likely to benefit the people but rather develops at their expense. The drive for participatory, „stakeholder driven‟ water reforms did not emanate not from the poor and marginalised but from the top, from the national government, international donors and financial institutions IWRMS; GTZ 2000. Lack of knowledge of reforms among black communities was reported Marimbe and Manzungu 2003. These are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the reform. The same author argues that there was a failure to communicate although there was some success in dissemination information about the reforms Marimbe and Manzungu 2003 A participatory study highlighted the way state bureaucrats fashioned the act to protect their central positions in catchment management. The same author also identified institutional overlap spatial and jurisdictional exemplified by catchment councils and rural district councils Latham 2002.