Social Policies and Private Sector Participation in Water Supply

Social Policies and Private Sector Participation in Water Supply
Author: N. Prasad
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2008-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0230582885

This book demonstrates that, when reforming the water sector, policymakers should arrange social policies that mitigate the negative impact of reforms. It presents a detailed analysis of the current issues, and uses country studies to show how social policies are vital in ensuring affordable access to water supply.

Water Politics and Development Cooperation

Water Politics and Development Cooperation
Author: Waltina Scheumann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2008-09-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 354076707X

The importance of the political sphere for understanding and solving water sector problems is the basic rationale of this book, which is the outcome of the Fifth Dialogues on Water, organised at the German Development Institute, Bonn. These dialogues, unlike earlier ones, focused on the political processes of policy formulation and the strategic behaviour of the actors involved. Specific attention is devoted to implications for development cooperation.

Public Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities

Public Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities
Author: Philippe Marin
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2009-09-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0821379577

'Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities: A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries' analyzes the market growth of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the developing world since 1990, and the performance of more than 65 large water PPP projects representing more than 100 million people for access, service quality, operational efficiency, and tariff levels. Although a relatively small portion of the water utilities in the developing world are operated under PPPs (about 7 percent in 2007), the urban population served by private water operators has grown every year since 1990. Despite many difficulties encountered by PPP projects and a few contract terminations, a large majority of contracts awarded since 1990 are still in place. The track record for improving service and efficiency reaffirms the value of PPPs to help turn around poorly performing water utilities, even though the level of private financing did not match initial expectations. Over time, a more realistic market has developed, the number of private investors from developing countries has grown, and contract designs have become more pragmatic concerning risk allocations between partners. The water sector has many features that set it apart from other infrastructure sectors. This book suggests the need for careful consideration of those specificities to successfully involve private operators. Although concessions with private financing have worked in a few places, contractual arrangements that combine private operation with public financing appear to be the most sustainable option in many countries. Policy makers, stakeholders, and donors need to remain heavily engaged in the water sector, especially in the poorest countries and during a global financial crisis. This book contributes to a better understanding of the various options to tackle the many challenges of providing water and sanitation services to urban populations in the developing world.

Creating Economic Space for Social Innovation

Creating Economic Space for Social Innovation
Author: Alex Nicholls
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2019-12-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0192566253

This book draws upon economic and sociological theory to provide a comprehensive discussion of economic space for social innovation, addressing especially marginalized groups and the long-term projects, programmes, and policies that have emerged and evolved within and across European states. It approaches the explanatory and normative questions raised by this topic via a novel approach: the Extended Social Grid Model (ESGM). Taking inspiration from the fields of economic sociology and ethics, this model shows that social innovation processes must be structural, and require change in power relations, if marginalization is to be effectively dealt with via social innovation. Part I of the book sets out the ESGM, including an exposition on the model along with background chapters on innovation, power and marginalization, ethics and social innovation, and empirical methods. Part II explores the model with a focus on social innovation trajectories of social housing, drinking water provision, employment, education, and food provision. It also explores the operationalization of the model with a view to agency and empowerment, as well as social innovation policy in Europe and the use of social impact bonds as a tool for financing social innovation. Part III revisits the ESGM and considers the explanatory adequacy and fruitfulness of the model for innovation research and for theorizing social innovation, addressing questions on the role and limitations of participation in social innovation for the marginalized, the role of capital for creating economic space for capabilities, and how we can approach the social impact of social innovation. This collection of essays presents a diverse range of perspectives on understanding and addressing the key issue of marginalization, and offers key recommendations for policy makers engaging with social innovation across the European Union and beyond.

Water and Social Policy

Water and Social Policy
Author: M. Pawar
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2014-01-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137385529

Manohar Pawar discusses the relevance and importance of social policy for water issues. By analysing several interrelated perspectives on water, he suggests core values as bases for formulating and implementing social policies so as to provide universal free access to safe drinking water for all, particularly for the most poor and disadvantaged.

The Future of Public Water Governance

The Future of Public Water Governance
Author: Christopher A. Scott
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2024-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1040277519

The privatization of water supply and wastewater systems, together with institutional restructuring of governance – through decentralization and the penetration of global firms in local and regional markets – have been promoted as solutions to increase economic efficiency and achieve universal water supply and sanitation coverage. Yet a significant share of service provision and water resources development remains the responsibility of public authorities. The chapters in this book – with case evidence from Argentina, Chile, France, the USA, and other countries – address critical questions that dominate the international agenda on public versus private utilities, service provision, regulations, and resource development. This book presents varied perspectives – largely complementary but at times contrasting – on public and private governance of water. Public authority in general is being reasserted over service provision, while resource development and investments in infrastructure continue as a mix of public and private initiatives. But more important, increased oversight and regulation of market-based initiatives that until recently were touted as panaceas for water supply and sanitation are increasingly being reconsidered on the basis of social equity, environmental, and public health concerns. This book was based on the special issue of Water International.

Water and Sanitation Services

Water and Sanitation Services
Author: Jose Esteban Castro
Publisher: Earthscan
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1849773750

Focusing on how to provide clean water for all - one of the key Millennium Development Goals, this book integrates technical and social perspectives. A broad, international range of case studies are provided, from developed, middle income and developing countries, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

The Political Economy of Water and Sanitation

The Political Economy of Water and Sanitation
Author: Matthias Krause
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2010-04-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135846103

According to recent estimates, around 6,000 people – mostly children under five – die every day from diseases caused by inappropriate water and sanitation (WS) services. Much of the academic and political debate surrounding this issue has focused on private sector participation. By shifting the attention towards the influence of governance, Krause examines the political and sectoral institutions that are essential for the provision of WS services. Utilizing data from sixty-nine developing countries, Matthias Krause demonstrates that the level of democracy has a statistically significant positive impact on access to WS services and that low-quality governance of sub-national governments compromises the internal efficiency of providers and the widespread access to services. This book makes a critical contribution to the water and sanitation research and will help academics and policy-makers to rethink the way in which they deal with water issues.

Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa

Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa
Author: Gedion Onyango
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 912
Release: 2021-12-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000513947

This Handbook provides an authoritative and foundational disciplinary overview of African Public Policy and a comprehensive examination of the practicalities of policy analysis, policymaking processes, implementation, and administration in Africa today. The book assembles a multidisciplinary team of distinguished and upcoming Africanist scholars, practitioners, researchers and policy experts working inside and outside Africa to analyse the historical and emerging policy issues in 21st-century Africa. While mostly attentive to comparative public policy in Africa, this book attempts to address some of the following pertinent questions: How can public policy be understood and taught in Africa? How does policymaking occur in unstable political contexts, or in states under pressure? Has the democratisation of governing systems improved policy processes in Africa? How have recent transformations, such as technological proliferation in Africa, impacted public policy processes? What are the underlying challenges and potential policy paths for Africa going forward? The contributions examine an interplay of prevailing institutional, political, structural challenges and opportunities for policy effectiveness to discern striking commonalities and trajectories across different African states. This is a valuable resource for practitioners, politicians, researchers, university students, and academics interested in studying and understanding how African countries are governed.

Alternatives to Privatization

Alternatives to Privatization
Author: David A. McDonald
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2012-04-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 113650947X

There is a vast literature for and against privatizing public services. Those who are against privatization are often confronted with the objection that they present no alternative. This book takes up that challenge by establishing theoretical models for what does (and does not) constitute an alternative to privatization, and what might make them ‘successful’, backed up by a comprehensive set of empirical data on public services initiatives in over 40 countries. This is the first such global survey of its kind, providing a rigorous and robust platform for evaluating different alternatives and allowing for comparisons across regions and sectors. The book helps to conceptualize and evaluate what has become an important and widespread movement for better public services in the global South. The contributors explore historical, existing and proposed non-commercialized alternatives for primary health, water/sanitation and electricity. The objectives of the research have been to develop conceptual and methodological frameworks for identifying and analyzing alternatives to privatization, and testing these models against actually existing alternatives on the ground in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Information of this type is urgently required for practitioners and analysts, both of whom are seeking reliable knowledge on what kind of public models work, how transferable they are from one place to another and what their main strengths and weaknesses are.