Governance principles for local level groundwater management in Njombe district, Tanzania
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of African Studies and Development
Abstract
Groundwater governance is a necessary condition for groundwater management that in turn improves
access to clean and safe drinking water. However, it is one of the developmental issues, which has not
been addressed squarely in Tanzania. Using governance principles, we explored groundwater
governance in Njombe district where water for domestic use depends on groundwater source. The
study used cross-sectional research design by adopting a mixed method approach with a random
sample of 250 respondents. It also involved 32 Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) participants and 9
governance actors at a district and community levels. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS) was used to summarize descriptive statistics while qualitative data were subjected to the
content analysis. The results show that five out of eight governance principles namely: accountability,
transparency, collaboration, rule of law and responsiveness were not practised effectively because of
poor knowledge among the governance actors. To that effect, the practice of governance principles was
poor translating into poor groundwater management. Therefore, district authorities should build
capacity on good governance to all groundwater governance actors recognized by the law. This helps
practise governance principles effectively for groundwater management.
Description
Journal article
Keywords
Groundwater governance, Actors, Njombe District, Tanzania.