Community participation in rural water supply

Ethopia, one of Africa's least developed countries, has a history of a community participation approach to projects stemming from the government's Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Water supply and sanitation systems are considered\AB to be a community responsibility, although under governmental guidelines. In 1988, it was found that 30% of the waterpoints were non-functional, and that half of the 11% of the population that presently has access to water\AB supply systems had no village water committees. Some of the reasons outlined were problems with equipment, underfunding, and lack of power of the village committees. Rural populations were suspicious of meetings, as meetings of\AB any kind were often used for induction into the military. Many rural inhabitants were forcibly "villagized", a program which has now ceased to exist. Various NGO's and other organizations are now promoting cooperative\AB participation projects, which are expected to have better results in the future.