Public Private Partnership, water and poverty in Rwanda: A case study on effects of market based approaches on safe drinking water access in Musanze district

Water service delivery has increasingly become controversial with the attempts to push services to market-based models of delivery. This is happening in the developing countries with the assistance of the international development agencies like World Bank and other big multilateral organizations. The resistance against such mechanisms is not sometimes understood fully. This study looks at the case of Rwanda and Musanze district in particular. The findings show that there are still difficulties in broader policy practice and reporting in analysing deeper difficulties communities face in accessing water. The measurement of only distance from the nearest source conceals several issues communities go through. Community members with low income levels end up spending far larger proportions of their incomes on water than the well-off ones and it becomes unfair for community well-being. There is need to analyse poverty in various dimensions and factor it into the design of water service delivery mechanisms. But more so, water may best be provided without market-oriented principles of cost-recovery and ‘user-pays’ as is being promoted internationally.