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Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages
The scarcity of water and especially the lack of safe drinking water have been accepted as amongst the most serious challenges facing the twenty-first century. The lack of access to water is a global problem that faces between 460 million to more than 1 billion people as a result of an increasing de...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
2018
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| _version_ | 1867613906023743488 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Shooya, Omagano Ndapewa |
| author2 | Spear, Dian |
| author_browse | Shooya, Omagano Ndapewa Spear, Dian |
| author_facet | Spear, Dian Shooya, Omagano Ndapewa |
| author_sort | Shooya, Omagano Ndapewa |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The scarcity of water and especially the lack of safe drinking water have been accepted as amongst the most serious challenges facing the twenty-first century. The lack of access to water is a global problem that faces between 460 million to more than 1 billion people as a result of an increasing demand for water as well as a diminishing supply of water resources. The lack of access to potable water poses a great constraint on the societal and individual well-being for the inhabitants of the semi-arid regions of southern Africa and the key area needed to improve the sustainable development of water resources and services has been identified as water governance. The aim of this research is, therefore, to understand how access to potable water affects the well-being of communities living in the Cuvelai-Etosha basin in Namibia and to understand how these communities participate in water governance. The Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages were used as case studies.The objectives of this study are to examine how water is accessed and determine what the barriers are in accessing potable water, to examine how the well-being of the communities in the two villages is affected by water access and to explore how communities are engaged in water governance. The overall methodology of the study was based on a qualitative approach to case study research. Interviews were conducted at the household level, the constituency and regional levels using semi-structured interview guides. The study found that the communities of Okalonga B and Onandjandja access water through hand-dug wells, private and communal taps, Etaka dam and Oshana, and boreholes. A total of 6 barriers to accessing potable water were identified. These included distance to communal taps, amount of water one can carry, administration of water infrastructure, maintenance of water infrastructure, ability to pay the set water fees and specific times allocated for collecting water. The barriers to accessing potable water negatively affect the well-being of communities. Communities felt that they would have better economic opportunities if they had access to potable water which would in turn improve their well-being and livelihood opportunities. Furthermore, the study found that community participation in water governance was poor. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27527 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:43:35.138Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| publisherStr | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27527 Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages Shooya, Omagano Ndapewa Spear, Dian Ziervogel, Gina Hegga, Salma Climate Change and Sustainable Development The scarcity of water and especially the lack of safe drinking water have been accepted as amongst the most serious challenges facing the twenty-first century. The lack of access to water is a global problem that faces between 460 million to more than 1 billion people as a result of an increasing demand for water as well as a diminishing supply of water resources. The lack of access to potable water poses a great constraint on the societal and individual well-being for the inhabitants of the semi-arid regions of southern Africa and the key area needed to improve the sustainable development of water resources and services has been identified as water governance. The aim of this research is, therefore, to understand how access to potable water affects the well-being of communities living in the Cuvelai-Etosha basin in Namibia and to understand how these communities participate in water governance. The Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages were used as case studies.The objectives of this study are to examine how water is accessed and determine what the barriers are in accessing potable water, to examine how the well-being of the communities in the two villages is affected by water access and to explore how communities are engaged in water governance. The overall methodology of the study was based on a qualitative approach to case study research. Interviews were conducted at the household level, the constituency and regional levels using semi-structured interview guides. The study found that the communities of Okalonga B and Onandjandja access water through hand-dug wells, private and communal taps, Etaka dam and Oshana, and boreholes. A total of 6 barriers to accessing potable water were identified. These included distance to communal taps, amount of water one can carry, administration of water infrastructure, maintenance of water infrastructure, ability to pay the set water fees and specific times allocated for collecting water. The barriers to accessing potable water negatively affect the well-being of communities. Communities felt that they would have better economic opportunities if they had access to potable water which would in turn improve their well-being and livelihood opportunities. Furthermore, the study found that community participation in water governance was poor. 2018-02-12T08:55:52Z 2018-02-12T08:55:52Z 2017 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27527 eng application/pdf Department of Environmental and Geographical Science Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Climate Change and Sustainable Development Shooya, Omagano Ndapewa Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages |
| title_full | Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages |
| title_fullStr | Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages |
| title_full_unstemmed | Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages |
| title_short | Barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the Onesi constituency of Namibia: the case of Okalonga B and Onandjandja villages |
| title_sort | barriers and enablers to water access and community wellbeing in the onesi constituency of namibia the case of okalonga b and onandjandja villages |
| topic | Climate Change and Sustainable Development |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27527 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shooyaomaganondapewa barriersandenablerstowateraccessandcommunitywellbeingintheonesiconstituencyofnamibiathecaseofokalongabandonandjandjavillages |