THE ROLE OF SOCIAL WORK IN RURAL WATER DEVELOPMENT A STUDY OF EVBUOMORE COMMUNITY ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the challenges of water accessibility in the rural sector and its implication to social work practice. It also reviews existing policy to highlight its strengths and weaknesses, to inform possible future review and guide new policy development in developing countries or troubleshoot existing policies. With the aid of primary and secondary sources of data therefore, this study examined the challenges of water supply in Evbuomore community and social workers involvement in ensuring the issue of inaccessibility of water is addressed. The findings of this study support the assertion that social workers should be encouraged to support locally rooted initiatives that promote environmental sustainability. The findings from the study reinforce the idea that local 'environmental' issues, such as water are also a potent focus around which community convenes, relationships can be strengthened, community engagement encouraged, and through which the broader project of building socially just and environmentally sustainable alternatives can vigorously be pursued.Moreover, the highest challenge that the community faces is inadequate power supply which is the cause for water inaccessibility in the study area according to the respondents. They also responded that poor funding by the government is a huge challenge of water accessibility. TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Background of study - - - - - - - 1.2 Statement of the problem - - - - - - - 1.3 Objective of the study - - - - - - - 1.5 Research Questions - - - - - - - 1.5 Significance of Study - - - - - - - 1.6 Definition of Terms - - - - - - - CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Review of Relevant Concepts - - - - - - 2.1.1 Overview of Water Supply - - - - - 2.1.2 Community Participation In The Rural Water Supply - - - 2.1.3 Historical Development Of Rural Water Supply In Nigeria - - - 2.1.4 Significance Of Water From Historical Perspective-- -- - - 2.1.5 Consequences Of Inadequate Water Supply In Nigeria -- - 2.1.6 The Challenges Of Rural Water Development In Nigeria - - - 2.1.7 Rural Water Development: Implications For Social Work - - - 2.1.8 Community-Based Adaptation, Resilience, And Sustainability - 2.1.9 Conceptualizations Of Environmentally-Oriented Social Work - 2.2 Theoretical Framework- - - - - - - - 2.2.1 Empowerment Theory - - - - - CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODLOGY 3.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 3.2 Research Design - - - - - - - - 3.3 Population of the Study - - - - - - - 3.4 Sample Size - - - - - - - - 3.5 Sampling Technique - - - - - - - 3.6 Research Instrument - - - - - - - 3.7 Data Analysis - - - - - - - - CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION /ANALYSIS AND DISCUSION OF FINDINGS 4.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - 4.1 Analysis of Respondents Characteristics - - - - - 4.2 Analysis of Research, Presentation and Discussion of Findings - - CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, LIMITATIONS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.0Introduction - - - - - - - - 5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - - 5.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 5.3Recommendations - - - - - - - - References - - - - - - - - - Questionnaire - - - - - - - - -
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Worldwide, water availability is a key issue in the 21st century. Per capita water availability is projected to fall from 6600 to 4800 m3 between 2000 and 2025 because of uneven distribution of water resources. However, most of the world's population will have below 1700 m3 per capita (Cosgrove & Rijsberman, 2000).Water availability is a major concern in the rural communities of Nigeria, which supports about 30% of the country's population. Past and current high rates of population growth in the rural communities have contributed significantlyto the increase in water consumption (International Fund for Agricultural Development, 2007). It is difficult to establish the exact degree of the importance of water to man in his arduous climb up the ladder of civilization. It is certain, however, that without water there would be no life of any kind on the earth and that, without water readily available in adequate quantity, man's progress is tremendously hindered (Todaro & Smith, 2009). Although no actual count is possible, billions of man-days of labour are undoubtedly lost annually because of illness and death from lack of accessibility of water or water-borne diseases. Unfortunately, the areas which can least afford this economic loss are the places where such sickness and death are most rampant. A recent survey in rural Nigeria revealed that 38% of the communities and 48% of all the households surveyed identified the lack of potable water as their greatest problem (Federal Ministry of Water Resources, 2010). This underscores the importance of domestic water as a major resource of concern to the rural people, 6.4% of whom remained unserved. This proportion may in fact be larger: detailed and extensive assessments in East and West Africa have revealed 70% over reporting of populations who use improved water supply schemes (Briscoe &deFerranti, 1988). To plan effectively and develop an integrated water resource management strategy for rural communities in Nigeria requires an understanding of the existing patterns of water use and the socio -demographic and cultural factors that influence such patterns. It is estimated that at least 25% of rural water projects in developing countries are not functioning, and in some countries construction of new facilities does not even keep pace with the rate of failure (Mu, Zhao, Heinsch, Liu, Tian, & Running, 2007). Rathgeber (1996) observed that water planners in developing countries usually assume that households and other social groups in rural communities will change their habits of interaction to take advantage of thenew, and presumably improved, water supply, failing to recognize that such a resource will not be used optimally if the supply system does not conform to the existing norms of such social groups. Over the years, the local populations in arid and semiarid regions have adapted their water use to varying levels of water availability. The accumulated knowledge from this adaptation process ought to be incorporated into more formal analyses of sustainable water use and development (Mabogunje, 2012). In an article discussing long-range planning for water service in the USA, Dr Abel Wolman of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, has said: "Adequate water service, at a reasonable price, is an attainable objective. If it has not yet been attained, it is only because the skilledworkers in this field have not seen fit to define the objective, to delineate the principle which should control its implementation, to devise the structure for administrationand management, and to establish the fiscal principles which might safely andwisely provide the sinews for the project." Although domestic water use accounts for only 9% of the total waterconsumption in sub-Saharan Africa (World Resources Institute, 2007), the benefits associated with an adequate supply, such as the effects on health, time savings, and greater productivity, are immense (Vargas -Lundius, 2007). Recent survey by Majuru. Tang, Engel, Pijanowski, & Lim, (2011), estimated that 65 million Nigerians had no access to safe water. The situation was worse in the rural areas where only 24% of the population were said to have access to safe water. Provision of clean, reliable and potable water in rural areas remain therefore a challenge considering the fact that the larger percentage of the population live in rural areas. When provision of clean water is inadequate, people are compelled to use contaminated water that later result into water related diseases and in the outbreak of these diseases. Thus, governments need to spend money on what would have been prevented by provision of clean water (Mwendera, 2006). The major sources of water supply for the rural populace are hand-dug wells, natural springs and streams, together with rainfall harvest, majority of which are highly unreliable during the dry seasons (Makoni , Manase , &Ndamba, 2004). As in other parts of the country, efforts geared towards rural development in Nigeria and towards “water for all by the year 2020” have increased the assessment, exploration and exploitation of water resources both surface and underground (Ellen& Kellog, 2005). 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Water, next to air, is the most important need of man. Water is life and a fundamental human right. The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water. It therefore, implies that provision of financially viable, reliable water supply service of acceptable quantity and quality for domestic and industrial uses is essential to healthy living, poverty alleviation and sustainable socio-economic development (Aveyard, 2010). Water availability varies in space and time. Each year, more than 2.2 million people in developing countries die from preventable diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Over two-third of world’s poorest people are located in rural areas and engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture, their basic concern is survival (Todaro & Smith, 2009). One of the high risk factors faced by the rural peopleis water availability. There is dearth of literature in EdoState and by extension Nigeria on the impact and role of water availability on livelihood asset of the rural people. The nature of the problem differs depending on the context -rural or urban, routine or civil emergency etc. Provision of clean domestic water for both rural dwellers should be seen as a necessity by policy makers (Phil-Eze & Oforah, 2009). However, this is not so for developing nations where rural dwellers are neglected whenever water supply schemes are being contemplated. In Nigeria, so many programmes to improve water supply situation had been put in place by different administrations. To achieve this enormous task, the Federal Ministry of Water Resourceshas worked in association with the state’s arm of the Ministry of Water Resources, Federal and States constituted water Agencies, local Government arm of the Departments of Water Resources, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s), as well as the influential private individuals, in their philanthropic gesture.The success of rural water scheme depends on the synergy between the Governments at the three tiers, Community Based Organizations, NGO and Development Partners in planning, organization and management (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 2009). Despite this, it is observed that water or rural water as the case may be in Nigeria suffer from poor coordination, poor maintenance culture, poor technical or institutional structure, inadequate funding, irregular disbursements of subventions, inappropriate infrastructures as well as lack of adequate quality monitoring and evaluation, lack of clear policy direction, lack of focus in terms of goals and objectives ( which resulted in the country’s inability to achieve full coverage of the rural population with safe water).Providing physically accessible clean water is essential for enabling women and girls to devote more time to the pursuit of education, income generation and even the construction and management of water and sanitation facilities(Ezemonye & Emeribe 2011). Determining whose shoulder lies the burden of fetching water and how convenience the access to water is in rural communities of EdoState is justifiable. Human uses of freshwater resources are increasing rapidly as the population rises. As this happens, less water is left to support aquatic and associated ecosystems. To minimize future human water shortages and undesirable environmental impacts, more equitable sharing of water resources between society and nature is required (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 2009). This will require physical quantities and social values to be placed on both human and aquatic ecosystem requirements. Current water valuation systems are dominated by economic values and there is need for new quantification and valuation methods that take more account of human well-being and environmental impacts. The key to the effective implementation of these more equitable water allocation methods is the use of catchment -based integrated water resources management (Wallace, Acreman & Sullivan, 2003). 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The broad objective of this study is; 1. To determine the extent of rural water development in Nigeria. 2. To determine the factors hindering rural water development in Nigeria. 3. To ascertain the government’s role in rural water development projects. 4. To determine the implication of social work to rural water development. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS In line with the objectives of the study, the following research questions are raised: 1. What is the extent of rural water development in Nigeria? 2. What are the factors hindering rural water development in Nigeria? 3. What is the government’s role in rural water development projects? 4. What is the implication of social work to rural water development? 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The issue of rural water development cannot be overemphasized as it has been stated earlier. Inadequate water supply coupled by sanitation had been the bane of rural communities in Nigeria. It is estimated in Nigeria that as many as two thirds of the rural population do not have access to safe water (WHO/UNICEF, 2008). To make matters worse, the one third of the population that has access to safe water is also struggling to maintain their supply facilities. Over 65% of the population lives in rural communities and this is projected to remain so until the end of the century. Most of these rural communities do not have modern water facilities. They depend on traditional sources that are generally of questionable quality, insufficient quantity and often liable to seasonal failures (Harvey, & Reed, 2004). Without sustainable rural water supply, the number of people having access to waste will continue to decline and those exposed to water related and water borne disease will continue to rise (World Resources Institute, 2008). Waterborne diseases, sometimes in an acute form, are therefore endemic in many of the rural areas. In order to solve this problem, a reliable and consistent low cost water supply scheme based on the available water resources in the communities must be designed and constructed. The significance of this research study to social work theory and practice is threefold. First, provision of water is critical to the improvement of the quality of life of people because having access to sufficient quantities of clean and safe water enhances the health and productive lives of people in rural areas. This is important both in social and community development promoted by social workers (GRZ 1994, Bernstein & Gray 1997). Second, social workers have a valuable contribution to make to the water supply sector, which is at the center of the fabric of rural communities, because of their understanding and skill in dealing with social issues. Findings from this research study would contribute to the body of knowledge in social work. And lastly, research findings could also be used by social workers in the field of rural water supply to promote sustainability of rural water supply facilities in Nigeria and other third world countries. 1.6 DEFINITIONS OF CONCEPTS Community Participation: This is a process where community members come together to take collective actions and generate solutions to common problems. Economic Development: This is a process by which a nation improves the economic, political and social wellbeing of its people. Rural Community: Rural people usually live in a farmstead or in groups of houses containing about 5000 persons, separated by farmland, pasture, trees or scrubland. Most rural people spend the majority of their working time on farms. Sanitation: This refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and adequate treatments and disposal of human excrement and sewage. Sustainable Development: This is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while at the same time sustaining the ability of natural system to natural provide the natural resources and ecosystem service upon which the economy and society depends. Water Accessibility: The degree to which a household can obtain the water it needs from any source in a reliable way for agriculture or other purposes. Water Scarcity: The point at which the aggregate impact of all users impinges on the supply or quality of water under prevailing institutional arrangements to the extent that the demand by all sectors, including the environment, cannot be satisfied fully. Water Supply: This is the provision of water by public utilities commercial organization, community endeavor or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Rural Water Development: The act of making rural region or water more productive or useful. Social Work: Is a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. It aims to help people develop their skills and their ability to use their own resources and those of the community to resolve problems. Implication for Social Work: To improve water-related services and delivery in rural areas per ward and village, as is done for other social services
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL WORK IN RURAL WATER DEVELOPMENT A STUDY OF EVBUOMORE COMMUNITY
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