Organisation et gestion des services d’eau potable en milieu rural au Burkina Faso

Download Organisation et gestion des services d’eau potable en milieu rural au Burkina Faso

Access to drinking water in rural areas remains a challenge in most parts of Africa. Despite tremendous efforts made in the WASH sector, Burkina Faso still has an average access rate to drinking water of 58,5% in 2010 (DGRE, 2010). Since 2008, a national reform of water service delivery in rural areas – aiming to improve sustainable access – has been implemented as a pilot in the country’s Sahel region. This pilot reform relies on a decentralised administrative level known as the commune (an ‘asset manager’). That reform sets up a framework for asset operation by water users associations (WUA) and other delegated private operators at the village level.
In this context, the Triple-S initiative looks at existing management models and their regulatory
framework. As defined in the reform, communes have to ensure planning, coordination, tariff rates and support to sub-communal structures, including the WUA. They have to formalise relationships with the local operators and the communal repairers as well as ensure follow-up with contacts. Communes also have the authority to set tariffs and royalty fees at water point and ask national, regional and other higher level stakeholders for support. They do in turn have to answer the WUAs’ requests and needs.
In addition, the reform’s regulatory framework defines the responsibilities of the WUAs. WUAs play three roles: (i) they supervise and coordinate water point managers and repairers, (ii) they collect tariffs and compensate the repairers in accordance with the communes, and (iii) they play a
representative role at local and at users’ level. Although all three functions are well defined in the
framework, how they are actually implemented remains to be seen. Therefore, the main objective of study is to assess the communes and the WUAs performance in order to reinforce well- functioning mechanisms on one hand, and, on the other, to enable changes at scale that would correct the frailer ones.
This report serves as a management analytical framework that provides context and methodology to assess the conformity of existing institutions to regulations in place and evaluate their current
capacity to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. Eight communes and 210 WUA are here analysed.