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Water security: stakeholders’ arena in the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia

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Abstract

Water insecurity is a growing challenge manifested from global to local scales. This paper examines stakeholders and their roles to tackle the challenges of water insecurity in the Awash basin of Ethiopia. The empirical evidence is based on stakeholder analysis employing key informant interviews with water experts using snowball techniques, focused group discussions with water user associations, and local communities. Moreover, secondary data sources were used to supplement the field data. The study is informed by Institution of Sustainability (IoS) to understand stakeholders’ arena in water security goal. The government institutions, private institutions, external bodies, and the local community were the key stakeholders. They engaged in water use, allocation, distribution, policy making, advocacy, and setting rules and regulations, development and management, and financing of water sector–water transaction processes. Nevertheless, it was found out that the stakeholders are not acting synergistically and coordinated to tackle the anthropogenic and natural factors affecting water quality, quantity, and access to safe water on a sustainable basis. Poor coordination fragmented the endeavours of various stakeholders and constrained effective participation. Power asymmetry among the actors limited their collaboration. In addition, there is little enforcement of water rules and regulations to surmount such challenges. Given these challenges, the dire water insecurity is a conspicuous manifestation in the basin. The potential of enforcing existing laws, engagement of pertinent stakeholders, as well as coordinating the action of these actors must be exploited to achieve sustainable water resources management and thereby water security. The political commitment is a sine qua non in the entire endeavour.

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Fig. 1

Source: Hagedorn (2015, 2008); Hagedorn et al. (2002)

Fig. 2

Source: authors 2017

Fig. 3

Source: constructed based on field work in 2016

Fig. 4

Source: constructed based on field work in 2016

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Notes

  1. The classification as the Upper, the Middle, and the Lower valleys were traditional in the sense that the former Awash Valley Authority (AVA) categorized for the management of the various agro-industrial projects in the basin (Ayalew 2009).

  2. A transaction can be seen as a physical phenomenon that is induced by a decision made by one or more actors and affecting one or more actors. The many different sorts of transactions have the potential to cause interdependence between actors, resulting in either conflict to be solved or opportunities for cooperation (Hagedorn 2013:108). The transaction is not the commodity as transaction theory often assumes but it is non-commodities: resources, goods, and services—in these study water resources.

  3. Kebele is the lowest administrative unit in Ethiopia. It is a collection of villages with its own cabinets, offices, and chairperson.

  4. In this paper, stakeholders are classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary based how they are affecting and/or affected by water insecurity. The primary stakeholders are water users. The secondary stakeholders are those directly influence the institutional settings of water resources management. The tertiary stakeholders have indirect influence in terms of advocacy, financing, and capacity building. At the same time, specialized agencies mainly engaged in water resources sector are labelled as key actors because they are directly engaged in water resources development and management.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere thanks to Addis Ababa University (College of Development Studies) for supporting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Rural Development, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 150229, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Reta Hailu, Degefa Tolossa & Getnet Alemu

  2. Institute of Development and Policy Research, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Getnet Alemu

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  1. Reta Hailu
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Correspondence to Reta Hailu.

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Hailu, R., Tolossa, D. & Alemu, G. Water security: stakeholders’ arena in the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 5, 513–531 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-017-0208-2

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