A community response to access to drinking water in South Africa

As rural water services provision continues to dwindle in South Africa, the Water Research Commission, through funding from the African Water Facility, launched an initiative to build a community response to issues of access to drinking water in six villages in the Province of Limpopo.

In September 2021, the "Operationalizing Community-Driven Multiple-Use Water Services" project won the Knowledge Tree Award for Empowering Communities of the national Water Research Commission. The initiative aims to replace conventional single-use water resources planning approaches and investments with community – driven Multiple Use water Services (MUS) in six villages in the Province of Limpopo. It is a participatory approach to planning and providing water services that supports people’s self-supply and their multiple water needs as identified by communities; with coordination across government departments as needed.

South Africa’s National Development Plan Vision 2030 recognizes self-supply as an alternative water services model that deserves funding. To this end, the AWF provided EUR 1,340,000 grant funding to the Water Research Commission for the implementation of this project.