Regional Environmental Change (2019) 19:2729–2743
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01571-y
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Vertical integration for climate change adaptation in the water
sector: lessons from decentralisation in Africa and India
Gina Ziervogel1,2 Poshendra Satyal3& & Ritwika Basu4 & Adelina Mensah5 & Chandni Singh4 & Salma Hegga2 &
Thelma Zulfawu Abu5
Received: 9 November 2018 /Accepted: 9 October 2019 /Published online: 3 December 2019
# The Author(s) 2019
Abstract
Vertical integration, which creates strategic linkages between national and sub-national levels, is being promoted as important for
climate change adaptation. Decentralisation, which transfers authority and responsibility to lower levels of organisation, serves a
similar purpose and has been in place for a number of decades. Based on four case studies in semi-arid regions in Africa and India,
this paper argues that vertical integration for climate change adaptation should reflect on lessons from decentralisation related to
governing natural resources, particularly in the water sector. The paper focuses on participation and flexibility, two central
components of climate change adaptation, and considers how decentralisation has enhanced or undermined these. The findings
suggest that vertical integration for adaptation will be strengthened if a number of lessons are considered, namely (i) actively seek
equitable representation frommarginal and diverse local groups drawing on both formal and informal participation structures, (ii)
assess and address capacity deficits that undermine flexibility and adaptive responses, especially within lower levels of govern-
ment, and (iii) use hybrid modes of governance that include government, intermediaries and diverse local actors through both
formal and informal institutions to improve bottom-up engagement.
Keywords Decentralisation .Water governance . Vertical integration . Participation . Flexibility . Climate change adaptation
Introduction adaptation planning and implementation is commonly re-
ferred to as vertical integration or vertical coordination
National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) have prioritised the need (Dazé et al. 2016; Pahl-Wostl and Knieper 2014).
for cross-scalar approaches for planning, implementing and Although NAPs often focus on technical responses, the
monitoring climate change adaptation. This has been support- recent emphasis on vertical integration reflects the growing
ed by the Paris Agreement that has prioritised the involvement recognition that coordination and collaboration across all
of subnational governments in climate action (Hsu et al. levels and sectors need to be improved to strengthen adapta-
2017). This process of creating intentional and strategic link- tion to climate variability and change (Biesbroek et al. 2014;
ages between national and subnational levels on climate Frohlich and Kneiling 2013). These multi-level and cross-
Communicated by Diana Sietz
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article
(https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01571-y) contains supplementary
material, which is available to authorized users.
* Gina Ziervogel 3 School of International Development, University of East Anglia,
gina@csag.uct.ac.za Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
4 School of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute for Human
1 Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University Settlements, Bangalore City Campus, No. 197/36, 2nd Main Road,
of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Cape Town, South Africa Sadashivanagar, Bangalore, Karnataka 560080, India
5
2 African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, University of
Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Cape Town, South Africa Ghana, LG 209, Legon Accra, Ghana
2730 G. Ziervogel et al.
sectoral decision-making processes are required to achieve recognising and integrating a wide range of perspectives and
effective governance to reduce climate change impacts, par- knowledge (Faguet 2014; Woodhouse and Muller 2016).
ticularly in the water sector (Pahl-Wostl and Knieper 2014). They have also been identified as critical for effective and
Local priorities and expertise need to feed into sub-national inclusive climate change adaptation (Few et al. 2007; Singh
and national adaptation processes, requiring flexibility and an 2018). Decentralised water management, which supports local
explicit focus on participation (Adhikari and Taylor 2012). decision-making, supports flexibility because of its aim to
However, given the relatively recent focus on climate change respond more immediately and directly to local needs.
adaptation governance and implementation, there are limited Because flexibility is an important characteristic of being able
examples of what it means to adapt at the local level and to adapt to changing climate (Pelling 2011; Baudoin and
collaborate across scales (Adhikari and Taylor 2012). Ziervogel 2017), the extent to which it has been enabled by
Decentralisation has many parallels with vertical integra- decentralisation in the cases is explored.
tion. It emerged in the 1990s and has been implemented in The central argument of this paper is that vertical integra-
many countries, particularly for natural resource management. tion for climate change adaptation needs to look closely at
It foregrounds coordination across scales by transferring re- how decentralisation has enabled or undermined the ability
sponsibility of decisions and resources from the central gov- to support participation and flexibility across scales. The ob-
ernment to lower-level governmental organizations and com- jective of this paper is to review four local cases of decentral-
munity organizations (Pahl-Wostl and Knieper 2014). As isation in the water sector in semi-arid regions through the lens
Fauguet (2014:2) states, decentralisation ‘is one of the most of participation and flexibility as two important components
important reforms of the past generations, both in terms of the of vertical integration. In the next section, we present the con-
number of countries affected and the potentially deep impli- ceptual foundations of decentralisation and vertical integration
cations for the nature and quality of governance’. As vertical for climate change adaptation, before presenting our analytical
integration approaches are developed for climate change, les- framework of how the two concepts overlap. We then present
sons can be learned from how decentralisation has enabled or four cases, all linked to the ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in
undermined participation and flexibility across scales. Yet, Semi-arid Regions) project. The project used insights from
insufficient attention has been paid to this so far. multiple-scale, interdisciplinary work to improve the under-
The water sector provides a good entry point for looking at standing of the barriers, enablers and limits to effective,
both decentralisation and vertical integration for climate sustained and widespread adaptation out to the 2030s. The
change adaptation. Water is a resource directly linked semi-arid nature of the case study regions means that water
to climate variability and impacted by climate change scarcity and its governance are one of the critical challenges to
(Jiménez Cisneros et al. 2014). Water, which is core to life, climate change adaptation (Few et al. 2015; Padgham et al.
needs to be managed in a coordinated and flexible way across 2015; Revi et al. 2015; Spear et al. 2015). After presenting the
scales from the national, to regional, to local levels (Pahl- methods used to assess the cases, we focus on how sub-
Wostl and Knieper 2014; Woodhouse and Muller 2016). national actors, including rural households, have engaged in
Adaptation responses that reduce climate risk in the water water governance and have been impacted by decentralisa-
sector at the village or sub-national level need to be situated tion. The results and discussion explore how participation
within institutional structures and procedures that are shaped and flexibility have been supported or undermined across
by rules and decisions made by other levels of government the cases. Drawing on this, we present three lessons that
(Vogel and Henstra 2015). Understanding the rules of water should be considered when implementing vertical integration
governance at different levels can help ensure that local cli- for climate change adaptation.
mate change adaptation is not restricted by the higher-level
institutional processes in which they are embedded (Juhola
et al. 2011). Failure to achieve coordination between these Conceptual framework
different levels may result in maladaptation and increased vul-
nerability due to conflicting goals, decisions or actions Vertical integration for climate change adaptation
(Magnan et al. 2016). Decentralisation, which has been exten-
sively implemented in the water sector, can provide lessons The complex interactions of changing trends in both gradual
for climate adaptation across scales. and extreme weather events, alongside changing social-
This paper draws on four case studies of decentralisation in political landscapes, economies and demographics, are in-
the water sector in semi-arid regions in Africa and India, to put creasingly forcing governments and other actors to reimagine
forward lessons for vertical integration for climate change the way natural resources are managed and governed.
adaptation. Specifically, it focuses on lessons around partici- Although there are increasing pressures on water availability
pation and flexibility. Participation and cooperation are central due to increasing temperatures, evapotranspiration and chang-
tenets of decentralisation that emphasise the importance of es in rainfall variability, many scholars have highlighted that
Vertical integration for climate change adaptation in the water sector: lessons from decentralisation in... 2731
adaptation to climate change is as much a governance issue as of rural subjects’, to the world of ‘emancipatory language of
a technical issue (Adger et al. 2009; Biesbroek et al. 2014). democracy, pluralism, and rights’ (Larson and Ribot 2004:1).
Given the complexity of the climate change challenge, new This shift of power to lower levels has seen participation
forms of climate change governance are emerging, including emerge as a central theme in decentralisation. Thus, decentral-
multi-stakeholder forms of regulation (e.g. public-private part- isation is seen ‘as a way of increasing participation and
nerships or platforms for collaboration). In the context of wa- strengthening democracy’ whilst contributing to multiple de-
ter governance, Pahl-Wostl (2007) traces marked paradigm velopment issues (Conyers 2017:vii). To enable this,
shifts from a ‘prediction and control’ mechanistic approach, community-based approaches have been promoted as a way
to a more cyclical and learning centric adaptive approach. The to manage natural resources effectively across Asia and Africa
latter involves reorganization and strengthening networks to (Benjaminsen 1997; Larson and Ribot 2004; Ribot and
enable adaptive processes that help understand the ‘system’ of Larson 2013; Mohmand and Loureiro 2017; Singh 2018).
intervention (Berkhout et al. 2006). Flexibility across scales is seen as integral to implementing
Those working on climate adaptation have often been frus- these locally appropriate responses. However, some argue that
trated with the lack of nestedness between various policies and participation may undermine flexibility when convening
programmes at different levels and the persistence of redun- broad groups with heterogeneous needs (Engle et al. 2011).
dancy across different sectors. Vertical integration is increas- In theory, decentralisation is expected to improve service
ingly being supported because it aims to address this short- delivery, democracy and inclusivity (Faguet 2014); increase
coming (Dazé et al. 2016). One factor needed to enable verti- transparency and accountability; reduce central government
cal integration is the institutional arrangements that link dif- expenditures (Mohmand and Loureiro 2017); improve re-
ferent levels of decision-making. It is through these institu- source management through stronger ownership; and provide
tional arrangements that coordination, capacity building and more participatory and deliberative spaces for decision-
communication between different levels occur. However, ini- making (Mohmand and Loureiro 2017). However, in practice,
tial climate governance experiments are throwing up chal- limited participation (Dyer et al. 2014), elite capture (Persha
lenges, such as tensions between formal and informal rules and Andersson 2014), mismatch in government/donor and
and hierarchies based on underlying power configurations local agendas (Larson and Ribot 2004; Faguet 2014), resource
(Termeer et al. 2016). constraints and capacity deficits, and incomplete and token
In addition to acknowledging the need to work across devolution (Mohmand and Loureiro 2017) have been evident.
scales, adaptation responses must support flexibility and iter- In the past decades, water management has witnessed sig-
ative learning processes to embrace uncertainty and shape nificant shifts from centralisation to decentralisation (Mehta
governance to achieve better outcomes (Folke et al. 2002). and Movik 2014; Gupta et al. 2013). Despite its intentions,
Despite theoretical calls for adaptive governance, practitioners decentralisation in the water sector has often not resulted in
and policy makers continue to struggle in defining and enhancing local decision-making (Gupta et al. 2013). Despite
operationalizing learning goals and flexible decision-making financial devolution in some cases, overall financial and hu-
(Armitage 2008). This is partly because it is hard to translate man resource transfers to lower levels have been sparse
complex and nested concepts into practice, especially when (Marks and Lebel 2016; Mapedza et al. 2016). It is often
contextualizing goals locally (Huitema et al. 2009). The other unclear who is taking on which roles and responsibilities be-
widely observed hindrance to flexibility stems from the inher- tween different actors and institutions at various levels, creat-
ent rigidities in organisational structures, which are in turn ing coordination deficits and conflicts horizontally and verti-
embedded in organisational and operational histories cally (Jackson and Gariba 2002).
(Huntjens et al. 2012). The push for vertical integration to Understanding how decentralisation has been implemented
work explicitly with actors beyond government provides in the water sector to meet local needs provides insight into
promise for experimentation, innovation and increased how flexibility, representation and engagement at the local
flexibility. level has been achieved in practice. Given the importance
placed on local knowledge, participation and flexibility in
Decentralisation and water governance the climate adaptation literature (Naess 2013), this experience
in the context of decentralisation is important to draw onwhen
Decentralisation entails (i) transfer of power from central au- supporting vertical integration for adapting to climate change.
thority to actors and institutions at lower levels, (ii) represen-
tation from lower levels of hierarchy, and (iii) bringing local Local water governance through the lens
knowledge into decision-making processes to increase a sense of decentralisation and vertical integration
of ownership over decisions taken (Larson and Ribot 2004).
The decentralisation paradigm has shifted the discourse away On the whole, decentralisation has not been as effective as
from ‘national cohesion, effective rule, efficient management intended (Terry et al. 2015). Both the degree of participation
2732 G. Ziervogel et al.
hoped for and the ability to be flexible at the subnational and participation and flexibility, particularly at the local level.
local scale have tended to be limited. Vertical integration for The qualitative analysis draws on themes of participation
climate change adaptation therefore needs to be cautious about and flexibility to pull out lessons to consider when developing
promises of what participation might deliver in practice (for vertical integration approaches for climate adaptation.
example, Thomson 2016 in Uruguay; Marks and Lebel 2016 For each case, we present a brief overview of the issues
in Thailand; Singh 2018 in India). Similarly, the flexibility related to water resources in terms of climatic and non-
called for by climate adaptation research needs to be carefully climatic stressors and water management policies, structures
thought through in terms of how vertical integration might and practices. The supplementary material further summarises
support this (Engle et al. 2011). the national context of decentralisation, water governance and
Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual framework used to as- climate change adaptation in the four case study countries.
sess the four cases in this paper. It suggests that lessons on
how participation and flexibility have been supported through
decentralization in the water sector should be drawn on for Ghana
developing vertical integration approaches in the climate
change sector. Overlaying the priorities for decentralisation In Ghana, water sector policies for urban and rural areas are
with those from climate adaptation illustrates areas of com- established by the Water Directorate within the current Ministry
monality where lessons can be learned. of Sanitation and Water Resources. The Water Resources
Commission regulates water resources and licenses water ab-
straction. In the early 1990s, as part of its decentralisation reform
to devolve power and resources to the district level and to pro-
Case studies and methodology mote popular participation in governance, the Government of
Ghana restructured water and sanitation delivery agencies
Decentralisation, water governance and climate (Ayee 1997). This approach separated the management of piped
adaptation: case study contexts water in cities from schemes in small towns and rural districts,
and sanitation became independentlymanaged.Urbanwater sup-
This section discusses the water resources and governance plywas directlymanaged by theGhanaWater Company Limited
context in the four case studies from the semi-arid regions of (GWCL) until a subsidiary company (Ghana Urban Water
southern Africa (Namibia, Onesi Constituency), West Africa Limited) was established by the Government of Ghana in 2011
(Ghana, Lawra District), Eastern Africa (Kenya, Isiolo to manage it (Acheampong et al. 2016; Suleiman and Khakee
County) and India (Karnataka State, Kolar District) (Fig. 2). 2017). For rural areas (Rural and Small Town Water Supply
The case studies cover different semi-arid regions presenting a Schemes), the District Assemblies manage supplies through var-
wide range of vulnerabilities and water management chal- ious schemes depending on population size, i.e. Small
lenges across Africa and Asia. The diversity across cases, Communities Point Sources (between 75 and 1200), Small
including both the context of livelihoods and water resource Community Piped Systems (1201 to 2000) and Small Towns
availability and differences in the methods used, means that it Piped Systems (up to 50,000) (Kumasi et al. 2018). The
is not suitable to compare cases directly. Rather, this paper Community Water and Sanitation Agency is mandated to facili-
engages with the cases as examples of how decentralisation tate the provision of safe drinking water and related sanitation
of water governance in semi-arid regions has enabled services to rural communities and small towns. Overall, District
Fig. 1 Conceptual framework:
participation and flexibility as the
synergies between
decentralisation and vertical
integration
Vertical integration for climate change adaptation in the water sector: lessons from decentralisation in... 2733
Fig. 2 Location of case study sites in Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and India (source: Eduaction)
Assemblies play a key role in providing the service, leading compounded by the controversial national elections of 2017,
participatory planning processes and mobilising skills and re- provisions in the country’s 2010 Constitution stipulated a de-
sources from a wide range of state and non-state actors volved governance for the stewardship of water and other
(Laryea-Adjei and van Dijk 2012). natural resources. While Kenya had existing customary insti-
The lowest level of governance in rural areas, such as those tutions managing water and pasture at the local level and the
in the case study site of the Lawra District of the Upper West concept of Water Resource Users Associations started in the
Region, is the Water and Sanitation Development Boards in late 1990s, it was the 2002 Water Act that provided more
small towns and the Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) decentralised power to the local communities (King-Okumu
Committee in rural communities, who work in conjunction et al. 2018). Further decentralised reforms and policy devel-
with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency through opment in the water sector continued after the new constitu-
the District Assemblies. The WATSAN committee, which tion (e.g. promulgation of the new Water Act in 2016, GoK
comprises chiefs, women representatives, unit committees 2016; and development of the National Water Master Plan
and assemblymen among others, prioritises monitoring of do- 2014-2030, GoK 2014).
mestic water sources and is responsible for defining and Currently, there are various actors and institutions that gov-
enforcing regulations, maintenance of facilities and collection ern water resource management at the national and sub-
of tariffs (FitzGibbon and Mensah 2012). Traditional author- national (county) levels (Annex 1). In general, there is a shift
ities, including paramount chiefs, sub-chiefs and community towards bottom-up water governance through the notable
elders, play an important, albeit informal, role in these pro- stories of the Water Resource Users Associations at the sub-
cesses since local communities are unaware or uninformed catchment level supported by national institutions such as the
about formal regulations and willingly comply with custom- National Drought Management Authority and Water
ary and religious water regulations. Resources Management Authority, which have regional and
county level offices. At the local level, there are water projects
Kenya and water committees for ground water management, and
customary institutions such as Dedha committees for the man-
Following the promulgation of the 2010 constitution, Kenya agement of water and pasture. There are also the Water
has undergone governance reforms, with the decentralised Department and other related departments (e.g. Agriculture,
administrative set-up of the country organized through 47 Forests, Tourism) of the county government at the sub-
semi-autonomous counties. Decentralisation is characterised national level. Additionally, other actors are involved at the
by the devolution of power to lower administrative levels county and village levels in the water sector, especially devel-
whereby central government has consciously created and opment agencies (global development institutions, bilateral
strengthened the structures of counties and local units of gov- organisations and international non-governmental organisa-
ernment to lessen its direct control. Consequently, key func- tions implementing projects) and private sector actors (e.g.
tions of the national government have been devolved at vary- private water vendors, transporters, contractors and others
ing degrees, including in the water sector. While the process of providing maintenance of water infrastructure, and water sup-
decentralisation has been slow and incomplete, further ply distribution in urban areas).
2734 G. Ziervogel et al.
Namibia Several State-led interventions aimed at improving natural
resources management and strengthening livelihoods are
Immediately after its independence in 1990, the Namibian moving towards integrated resource management with a focus
government reviewed its water legislations and decentralised on local participation. However, a constant challenge to de-
some aspects of water governance (Schnegg and Bollig 2016). centralisation has been inadequate capacity, especially at the
Being one of the driest countries of southern African, along lower scale, to implement programmes operating across mul-
with immense pressure on the government to address issues of tiple line departments and skill sets (also see Aziz 2000;
poverty and social inequalities, Namibia needed new forms of Purushothaman et al. 2013). District-level institutions are
governance and water management systems. mandated to regulate and maintain water infrastructure and
The legislative reform attempted to increase participation usage as well as implement central schemes such as the
and engagement at the village, constituency and sub-national National Rural Drinking Water Program (NRDWP).
levels through the revision and development of various poli- Additional roles include preparation of contingency plans
cies that guide the administration and development of the and drought proofing and mitigation, for example through
water and sanitation sector in Namibia. As part of the water door-to-door and public supply of drinking water in summer.
reform, new governance and management institutions were These formal institutions intersect with informal norms of
established. The Namibia Water Corporation Limited water sharing and management practices from a range of
(NamWater), a state-owned company that works with the sources (see Annex 1). In practice, water access and use are
Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation Coordination strongly filtered through social stratifications, most often caste
(DWSSC), was formed to supply bulk water (GRN 2008). and gender. For example, wells in a village are often demar-
In 2013, Basin Management Committees were introduced to cated as belonging to certain social groups (Mosse 1999) such
promote community participation in basin management activ- as those belonging to gowdas (landowners) or banjaras (no-
ities. At the regional level, Regional Authorities and DWSSC madic communities).
are responsible for supplying water to rural communities,
while Local Authorities (Town Councils) are responsible for Methodology
water supply and networking within urban areas (Dietrich
2016). In 1997, the national government handed over the re- This paper draws on qualitative data collected by a team of
sponsibility for managing and paying for water services to ASSAR researchers between 2015 and 2017 in semi-arid re-
rural communities through the Water Point Associations. gions of Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and India. A multi-scalar
This was an attempt to actively support community participa- governance lens guided this research, which required working
tion, asWater Point Associations had to make initial decisions across scales, paying attention to context, and a focus on the
around how water tariffs were structured. The infrastructure sub-national and local levels (Cash et al. 2006). This approach
was transferred to the Water Point Associations, who are re- allowed researchers to acquire rich contextual detail in order
sponsible for maintenance, coordinating access and monitor- to understand people’s perspectives and the complexities of
ing of the standpipes in villages and facilitating the payment of governance (Eakin 2006). Data collection included in-depth
user fees (see Hossain and Helao 2008; Schnegg et al. 2016). interviews, focus group discussions, participatory methods
and analysis of secondary data (Patton 2002), which are
outlined in detail in Table 1. Most interviews were done in
India
the local language with translation.
Research was conducted with decision makers at the na-
In India, water management is constitutionally mandated in
tional, sub-national and local levels including local govern-
the state list making it a sector governed at a sub-regional
1 ment and non-government staff, water point associations, tra-scale . The state of Karnataka is often identified as an example
ditional authorities and local community members to build a
of effective decentralisation (Pius Kuliposa 2004; Meinzen-
better understanding of the decision-making processes around
Dick 2007; Vaddiraju and Sangita 2011); it has devolved all
water governance and climate change adaptation. The inter-
functions eligible for devolution (amounting to 29) to the
views were designed to understand the roles of different actors
Gram Panchayat, the basic unit of local governance in India.
and their perceived influence and capacities for improved wa-
Within Karnataka, we focus on Kolar, a drought-prone dis-
ter resource governance. Data from both the interviews and
trict colloquially known as the ‘land of milk, silk and
focus group discussions were analysed through thematic anal-
mangoes’. Livelihood transitions and land use land cover
ysis, according to dominant narratives around participation,
changes mirror local narratives of decreasing water availabil-
flexibility and cross-scalar governance. Because of their rich-
ity and access (Purushothaman et al. 2013; Singh et al. 2016).
ness and diversity, information about the livelihoods, water
1 However, several issues such as cross-state river interlinking fall under the resources and water governance is provided alongside the
Concurrent List, which falls under national governance. methodology in Table 1.
Vertical integration for climate change adaptation in the water sector: lessons from decentralisation in... 2735
Table 1 Case study field sites
Case study Ghana Kenya Namibia India
context
Field sites Lawra District, Upper West Region; 4 villages Isiolo - county level; 2 villages (Kula Mawe and Onesi Constituency in Omusati Region; 3 Kolar District, Karnataka; 9 villages
Kachuru) in the Ewaso Ng’iro North river villages (Enongo, Olwaadhiya, and
basin Enkalashe)
Methods Semi-structured interviews (160) with house- Semi structured key-informant interviews and Semi-structured interviews with village Village profiles (9) involving semi-structured
holds and gender differentiated focus group focus groups (26 in total). Key informant in- members, government officials and NGOs individual interviews, transect walks, village
discussions (16) with community members terviewees mainly included officials from the (24). This included representatives from resourcemapping. Semi-structured interviews
County government departments (Water, NamWater, the Olushadnja Basin with government officials, NGO staff, local
Planning, Agriculture, Livestock), Ewaso Management Committee, the Directorate of researchers (10)
Ng’iro North River Basin Development Water Resources Management, the Gender-differentiated focus group discussions
Authority, National Drought Management Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (18) mapping key operational schemes
Authority, Water Resources Management Coordination, the Disaster Risk Management
Authority, Caritas International and Fight Committee, the Omusati Regional Council
Against Hunger. Follow-up interviews were the Onesi Constituency Office, the Traditional
also undertaken with some of these actors, Authority and the Water Point Committees
where necessary, to validate the information Focus groups undertaken in each village with
provided around 20 people in total. Participatory Rural
Focus group discussions (8) with the village Appraisal tools used including Resource Use
members, water point committee and Water Matrix, Participatory Village Resource
Resource Users Association members and Mapping and Governance walk
village elders, transect walks, village resource
mapping
Secondary Government reports and census data Government and organisational reports Government reports and census data Government reports, district and state
data development plans
Development Rural Rural–Urban (transitional) but mostly rural Rural Transitioning rural with increasing connectivity
context to urban areas
Primary Agriculture (mixed farming: rearing livestock is Pastoralists and agro-pastoralists (crop produc- Subsistence farmers—crop production and live- Agriculture and allied sectors (livestock rearing,
livelihoods a means to supplement the low yield from tion limited due to climatic conditions); wage stock keeping; informal sector includes run- sericulture), non-farm labour within and out-
crop farming); craft and related trade; service labour; charcoal producers and sellers; other ning ‘cuca shops’ (selling liquor) side the village; contractual labour at con-
and sales informal sectors struction sites and textile industries
Annual < 1000 mm < 150 mm 470 mm 486 mm
rainfall
Water sources Boreholes, protected and not protected wells, Rivers, community ponds, wells and Groundwater, surface water (i.e. rivers, oshanas Government-financed borewells or through
dugouts (shallow wells), rivers, dams, groundwater—boreholes or canals, earth dams, shallow wells, open private tanker owners, village ponds and
piped water canal), hand dug wells tanks, communal wells and grazing lands
Nature of Communal boreholes (constructed by the Communal –water points/water schemes, drilled Communal—communal water points/standpipes Communal wells, borewells and taps built by
water District Assembly with support from boreholes with water storage and distribution in the village government
access government, NGOs and projects)—accessible systems Communal—drilled boreholes in cattle posts Government-provided water tankers during
to all who contribute towards management Traditional community ponds and water pans Private—private off takes in homes that can summer/drought
Surface water sources (rivers and dugouts)— Private—standpipes in urban areas (Isiolo town) afford it Communal man-made tanks which are mostly
communal use Hand dug wells managed by the owner but water defunct
Communal pipe-borne water—pay before use can be shared with neighbours Private—borewells, water purchase in the
Government—provides water during critical summer from nearby towns
times i.e. droughts
Village level Water committees formed by representatives of Water point committees in consultation with Water Point Committees at the village level, Water Users Associations (WUAs)
water water users in towns (WATSAN) elders—ground water; Water Resource Users Water Users Associations Watershed Development Committees (WDCs)
governance Local Water Committees (for pipeline schemes)
2736 G. Ziervogel et al.
Results: participation and flexibility
in decentralised water governance
This section unpacks how participation and flexibility
have been supported or undermined across the four cases
in the context of decentralisation in the water sector.
Participation is defined here as the extent and nature of
engagement of diverse actors in water governance.
Flexibility refers to the agility to move between different
responses to manage water-related issues depending on
changing water resources, institutional and community
priorities, and social changes (Massoud et al. 2009;
Tomkins and Adger 2006).
Cross-scalar representation helps strengthen
participation
Representation of diverse voices, including the most marginal
and vulnerable communities, is key to constructive participa-
tion (Cornwall 2008). Across the four cases, we explore how
marginal communities have been represented in the context of
decentralised water governance. In both Ghana and India,
women’s representation in WATSAN committees and Gram
Panchayats2 respectively is promoted through reserving seats
in local bodies for women and those from marginalised
groups. Although this has reshaped the contours of participa-
tion, in both cases, entrenched socio-cultural norms have
made female representation on village committees tokenistic.
In the Kenyan case, institutional guidelines and mandatory
requirements for inclusion of marginalised groups have facil-
itated participation, for example through the structures of wa-
ter point committees and Water Resource Users Associations
at the local level and the provision of public consultation at the
county level. Through these institutional shifts, pastoralists,
agro-pastoralists, women and youth have also become more
engaged in local and county level water governance issues,
although their real influence on final decision-making is still
limited.
Representation across different organisations and across
scales of administration in the landscape of water governance
is crucial. Across all four cases, there has been a growing
presence of non-state actors that are helping to mobilise and
facilitate participation at the local level. For example, non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) like MYRADA in
Karnataka, India and international NGOs such as World
Food Programme in North Ghana, Caritas in Isiolo, Kenya,
and Red Cross in Northern Namibia have all engaged at the
local level and supported local participation to some extent.
These NGOs have helped to increase collaboration across
2 Lowest level of governance in the three-tiered system in India. A Gram
Panchayat typically oversees a group of villages and is managed by a Gram
Sabha (Village Committee).
Table 1 (continued)
Case study Ghana Kenya Namibia India
context
arrange- Farmer Associations and Landlords—manage Associations—surface water (sub-catchment Local Water Associations
ments the rivers, dams and dugouts level)
Water-related Increasing drought conditions in addition to Increasing drought conditions and water stress; Increasing drought conditions and water stress; Recurrent droughts and plummeting
challenges erratic rainfall patterns. Groundwater is a congestions at the water points; intensification salinity, vandalism of water infrastructure groundwater levels to as deep as 1200–1500
good water source however, few boreholes of water demand for commercial cultivation Heavily relied on surface water supplied through ft. Inadequate and unreliable water supply for
serve communities (inadequate funds for and industrial use; competition for water use pipeline schemes; unreliable supply of water agriculture, and allied activities and domestic
constructing new boreholes and to maintain (between household use and irrigation during summer consumption (especially during the summer
existing ones). Heavy reliance on donor agriculture, and between human, livestock Distance to paypoints, volunteering nature of months—April to June). Management of nat-
agencies to fund boreholes. Some conflicts at and wildlife); and conflicts over grazing and WP management, defaulting of user fees and ural resources—shrinking forestland and
boreholes between various users (e.g. water between the pastoralist groups closure of communal water points motivates a pasturelands, mining activities, which have
ruminant owners and livestock farmers) move to private offtakes for well off implications on incentives to maintain com-
households while affecting access to potable mon resources such as village ponds
water for marginalised groups
Vertical integration for climate change adaptation in the water sector: lessons from decentralisation in... 2737
scales to fill the gap where local government has been strug- ensure flow of expertise and experience between relevant sec-
gling to maintain high levels of participation at the local level. tors that has increased representation. For example, public-
Even though the local government has struggled to enable private networks are emerging such as the Karnataka State
participation, in our cases, the government has often worked Water Network in Karnataka (India) that is a state-wide net-
closely with intermediaries, such as NGOs. work convening stakeholders to coordinate around water
Along with the institutional structure, it is also often the management3. In Ghana, irrigation farmer associations and
agency of certain individuals that can increase representation landlords located near the Black Volta River collaborate with
(Ziervogel et al. 2016). ‘Local champions’ (acting as individ- theWater Resources Commission to ensure safe farming prac-
uals or representatives) can be central to promoting represen- tices. Inter-county dialogues on water management at the ba-
tation and collective interests of some groups by leveraging sin level (e.g. between Isiolo and Meru) in Kenya is another
their networks and influence. The assertive influence of such case in point that shows how managing natural resources such
local champions is often mediated by a combination of factors as water requires going beyond the conventional administra-
such as social context (caste politics in India) and personal tive boundaries to the ‘waterscape’ across administrative
attributes of individuals such as charisma, leadership ability scales.
and appeal. In Namibia, of the three villages where we
worked, the one with the most charismatic leader was the
village where concerns were transferred to the higher regional Capacity to implement decentralisation needs to be
level. Among Borana and Turkana pastoralist groups in north- strengthened
ern Kenya, local champions of various sorts, such as a com-
munity leader, an influential school teacher, and a NGO staff, Capacity is a theme that relates to participation and flexibility
often rooted at the local level, have played a key role in bring- both in the decentralisation and climate change adaptation
ing different groups’ voices to the fore and leveraging village- fields. Decentralisation is undoubtedly easier said than done.
county linkages thus facilitating cross-scalar participation. It is complex and thus demands capacity to be built across
Political and/or leadership affiliations impact on whose cognitive and practical realms in order to translate the admin-
cause the champion supports, which is similar to what istrative guidelines of decentralisation into desirable outcomes
Adhikari and Taylor (2012) found. In the Kampuoh commu- of effective and inclusive water use and management at the
nity, in Lawra District, northern Ghana, the leader of the local scale (e.g. Tropp 2007).
women’s group had strong political affiliations and was out- Capacity is needed to operate effectively within and
standing in advocating for water and farming solutions for her outside the formal governance frameworks. All four cases
community. This led to better water infrastructure in her com- highlight severe human resource deficits coupled with in-
munity than in some of the surrounding ones. Given the ex- adequate leadership, knowledge and technical skills within
pected disproportionate impacts of climate change on some the concerned government line departments across scales.
more than others, better means of representation are needed to This is especially so in local (village/community) and sub-
ensure those most vulnerable get represented and heard. national (district, state or county) levels. In Kenya, while
To move from tokenistic to inclusive participation across there are increased financial resources at the county level,
scales, innovative ways are needed to ensure representation of lack of technical know-how and capacity deficit remain
diverse groups and needs. Participation to support vertical major constraints, as highlighted by a number of county
integration will need to engage with power imbalances that department officials interviewed (including the County
traditionally exist both across and within different levels. A Planning Office, County Water Department and County
quote from Namibia illustrates how youth, for example, have Agriculture Department). In the words of one respondent:
found it hard to engage in the current structures, with one ‘There is a serious capacity deficit, as the responsibility is
participant saying ‘It is difficult for young people to have a given based on who is who rather than who can do
say. Sometimes the local leader can chase you if you are chal- what...the problem in the county structure is that there are
lenging him in a meeting’. In the Ghana case, one community political appointments...very junior people have been
member explained, ‘we are hardly ever consulted during the appointed as technical advisors and section heads, which
implementation of projects, especially when it comes to the have reduced morale of dedicated and senior staff’. The
siting and naming of the [water] services. For example, the officials in the Isiolo County in Kenya stressed that this
Ketro borehole constructed between two communities was is even more evident at the local level (for example there
named after one community… and caused problems between is a lack of well-qualified engineers and skilled labour to
them. It was only resolved with the help of the District attend to breakdown of pumps, pipes, tankers, etc.). In
Assemblies’. 3 KSWN is an Industry outreach program to bring together disparate stake-
In our four cases, emerging hybrid modes of partnership holders, with common interests related to areas of water management. For
have provided innovative opportunities to bridge scales and more information, see here.
2738 G. Ziervogel et al.
Namibia and Ghana, budgetary constraints were identified regional semi-arid cases. Although in all cases there were
as a key barrier to local responses to crisis even though the elements of learning, it was not well established and so
other aspects supporting response, such as a clear plan of likely to undermine climate change adaptation in the con-
action, were in place. As a result, in northern Ghana, there text of local water governance.
is a markedly high reliance on donor funds to provide wa- In the case of Kenya, decentralisation has allowed the
ter services for rural communities. In India, lack of staff at Isiolo county government to improve water services in
the district and sub-district level was seen as a more critical urbanising areas, protect water services during drought and
barrier than budgetary constraints, going against popular floods, and avoid unnecessary costs for vehicles and emergen-
perceptions of increasing adaptation finance as an effective cy response through better planning. The customary Dedha
way to improve implementation. One of the local organi- committees in Isiolo (besides the formalised water committees
sation directors said ‘Lack of adequate capacity with gov- and Water Resource Users Associations) have been revived
ernment line departments is a bigger challenge than short- after formalisation by the county government to manage water
age of financial resources’. In sum, in different cases, there and pasture, providing a good example of innovation that has
were different capacity deficits that were constraining the successfully integrated customary and government institu-
implementation of decentralisation and the associated ca- tions. Besides encouraging innovation in terms of what works
pacity to foster participation and flexibility across scales, and what does not, this has also resulted in more equitable
including lack of sufficient budget, inadequate staff and outcomes (e.g. increased inclusiveness). An official from the
limited technical skills. Isiolo County Department of Water explained:
Flexibility supports the ability to innovate and adapt
One particular development (in water management) af-
At sub-nationals levels, ability to innovate is crucial for ter devolution has been the formalization of customary
adaptation to growing water crises (Anguelovski and institutions managing water and pasture for which they
Carmin 2011). However, evidence from the case studies have to follow the criteria set by the county water de-
points to a number of socio-technical lock-ins that hinder partment and Water Resources Management Authority.
the ability to be flexible and innovative. For example in As a result, these institutions have evolved as hybrid
India, the focus on subsidies for borewell digging has led structures and have become more inclusive (i.e. inclu-
to an individualisation of resources and undermined ef- sion of women and youths). We have also seen good
forts to incentivise restoration of Kolar’s old system of developments in terms of community-private sector
community water tanks which doubled up as water har- partnerships (e.g. in maintenance and functionality of
vesting structures. This lock-in is exacerbated because water infrastructures) and effective regulation and con-
borewell digging and tank restoration are managed by trol of water theft (i.e. illegal wells and pumps).
different departments. Citing frustration with this siloed
approach, a geologist in the Rural Water Supply In both India and Ghana, national and regional awards have
Department mentioned, ‘Earlier, we were also in charge been given to environmentally conscious farmers. In the
of building tanks under our Panchayat Raj Engineering northern region of Ghana, farmers showcased innovative
Division...but now our role is restricted to rural water and sustainable farming practices where they won various
supply’. In Ghana, there are projects that provide low- awards (Tambo and Wünscher 2015). These incentives can
cost technologies to help farmers scale up operations promote shifts towards sustainable practice and behaviour
and although considered ineffective or inadequate by the through formal recognition.
communities, they still persist. For example, community In our cases, financial resources have directly impacted on
members reported that small surface dams (or ‘dugouts’) the extent to which sub-national actors have been able to be
provided through some national projects do not adequate- flexible in their responses. For example, in Namibia and
ly store water to last throughout the dry season and some Ghana, many sub-national officials do not have sufficient au-
boreholes require expensive or uncommon spare parts that tonomy over their budget-related decisions which affect how
communities are unable to afford or purchase for mainte- priorities are set and responded to. In Namibia, a lack of bud-
nance. A shift is needed to envision innovation and ap- get has meant that the extension officers cannot visit the vil-
propriate adaptations that break out of rigid institutional lages regularly and the Basin management committee has
lock-ins. This could be supported by informal associations been unable to pay travel costs, and so meetings have not
that tend to be more flexible than formal organisations happened.
(Rodima-Taylor 2012). The learning centric adaptive ap- On the other hand, evidence from India and Kenya illus-
proach that Pahl-Wostl (2007) suggests is needed for wa- trates heightened flexibility to respond to crisis due to avail-
ter governance under climate change was lacking in our ability of contingency budgets. This flexibility has been
Vertical integration for climate change adaptation in the water sector: lessons from decentralisation in... 2739
particularly important during disasters where impacts and re- and regional actors to stand back and see how their urgent
sponses unfold rapidly. As an official from the National priorities, often related to water access, were part of a bigger
Drought Management Authority in Isiolo, Kenya elaborated: social-ecological system (Morchain et al. 2019). Such pro-
cesses, by design, facilitate a critical understanding of the
system as a whole and help to present, argue and assimilate
Devolved authority and resources through the process of diverse perspectives, contradictions and realities.
decentralisation has also helped us in experimenting and In our cases, decentralisation enabled flexibility in some
deciding in terms of what works and what does not at the instances where challenges were turned into opportunities
county level. For example, County Department for and resources allowed for more suitable local responses.
Water used to rent tankers for distribution of water dur- Where responses tended to be more effective and flexible,
ing the time of drought, which usually are more expen- hybrid governance arrangements were in place that included
sive during that time. They have now purchased two both formal and informal institutions. This important finding
tankers, whichwill be a good investment in the long run. aligns with emerging work in the climate adaptation space that
supports hybrid and inclusive governance that better responds
to diverse needs, particularly of marginal groups (Adhikari
and Taylor 2012; Archer et al. 2014; Ziervogel 2019). In other
Lessons from decentralisation for vertical instances, flexibility was undermined by the lack of authority
integration to climate change and resources at the local despite the decentralisation policies.
Flexibility was also undermined by capacity deficits, lack of
This paper has explored how participation and flexibil- technical skills, socio-cultural barriers and unequal power re-
ity have been supported through decentralisation in the lations. The concept of flexibility has not received sufficient
water sector in four case studies from semi-arid areas of attention in the decentralisation literature but needs to be better
Africa and India. Our analysis has highlighted that de- understood in order to support vertical integration and build
centralisation has not enhanced participation and capac- cross-scalar hybrid spaces for innovation and learning
ity sufficiently to ensure equitable representation from (Armitage et al. 2008).
lower levels of hierarchy or to bring local knowledge Unfortunately, decentralisation has increased expectations
into decision-making process across scales as intended, on already resource-constrained local actors, who do not have
as found in other cases (Terry et al. 2015; Larson and the capacity or authority for these new roles (Poteete and
Ribot 2004). For example, in India despite guidelines Ribot 2011). As one of the interviewees in Namibia said,
supporting inclusion, men typically participate more ‘decentralisation… has failed’. A few interviewees in Kenya
and are often from higher castes and larger landholders. ridiculed ‘devolution’ as ‘devil-ution’ due to some of the un-
This has resulted in limited impact around improving intended consequences such as expansion of bureaucracy and
inclusion of marginalised groups in water governance. corruption at the local level, increased contestation and polit-
Adaptation approaches that aim to support better vertical ical conflicts and unfulfilled promises (such as empowerment
integration should recognise that substantial resources of disadvantaged groups). In all four of our cases, decentrali-
will be needed to actively ensure that multiple stake- sation has focusedmore on operational aspects (administrative
holders at multiple levels of state and society can be and technical) and has undervalued socio-cultural and ecolog-
part of conceptualising and implementing adaptation re- ical aspects. As the climate change adaptation agenda
sponses (Amundsen et al. 2010; Sherman and Ford increasingly gains ground, and vertical integration is
2014). This will require a richer understanding of the supported, it is imperative that socio-cultural and eco-
power differentials and relationships between state and logical issues are as carefully considered as the admin-
community actors (Aylett 2013) and alignment with the istrative and technical issues (Head 2010). Yet in
growing focus on collaborative governance and co- resource-constrained environments, such as our cases
production for climate change adaptation (Clarke et al. and many other semi-arid regions, the capacity to take
2013; Evers et al. 2016; Ziervogel et al. 2016). a more holistic approach is often limited.
Taking this forward, vertical integration could imbibe les- No single governance institution can manage a wick-
sons from numerous multi-stakeholder consensus building e d p r ob l em a l o n e (L e ck and S imon 2013 ) .
and participatory scenario-based processes that have Decentralisation has relied primarily on government in-
been undertaken the world over that explicitly give voice to stitutions, yet the successful cases often highlight the
participants across scales and encourage bottom-up participa- role of non-state actors. As countries pursue their com-
tion. For example, Transformative Scenario Planning and mitment to the Paris agreement and develop National
Vulnerability and Risk Assessment processes conducted Adaptation Plans, vertical integration is likely to be in-
across regions as part of the ASSAR project enabled local creasingly championed. Lessons from our four cases
2740 G. Ziervogel et al.
suggest that successful vertical integration will require Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the respondents
strong government engagement across scales and sec- from the fieldwork across the sites, an internal ASSAR reviewer and
two anonymous reviewers who provided useful comments.
tors, but that climate change adaptation requires support from
a range of intermediaries including NGOs, academics, private Funding information This work was supported by the Adaptation at
and informal actors and institutions (Adhikari and Taylor Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR), which is a consortium under the
2012). If states are weak, engagement, collaboration and imple- CARIAA programme of the International Development Research Centre
mentation on climate adaptation are likely to be hard, especially (IDRC) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
The views expressed in this work are those of the creators and do not
in countries where short-term development needs are necessarily represent those of DfID and IDRC or its Board of Governors.
prioritised, and the link to climate change is not necessarily seen
as direct (Ziervogel and Parnell 2014). Our cases have
highlighted that issues of coordination, responsibility, capacity
and accountability can undermine decision-making across Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons At t r ibut ion 4 .0 In te rna t ional License (h t tp : / /
scales that aims to strengthen natural resource resilience. But, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
through these cases, we have started to better understand how distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give
each level of governance might enable participation and flexi- appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link
bility. The growing field of adaptive governance that embraces to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
complexity, learning and changing social and environmental
dynamics holds some promise for addressing these challenges
(Pahl-Wostl 2009; Shinn 2016; Engle et al. 2011). References
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