Rethinking the economics of rural water in Africa

Explores why rural water is different for communities, schools, and healthcare facilities across scale, institutions, demand, and finance

Abstract

Rural Africa lags behind global progress to provide safe drinking water to everyone. Decades of effort and billions of dollars of investment have yielded modest gains, with high but avoidable health and economic costs borne by over 300m people lacking basic water access. The authors explore why rural water is different for communities, schools, and healthcare facilities across characteristics of scale, institutions, demand, and finance.

This work is part of the REACH ‘Improving Water Security for the Poor’ programme

Citation

Hope, R., Thomson, P., Koehler, J. and Foster, T. (2020) Rethinking the economics of rural water in Africa. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 36, Number 1, 2020, pp. 171–190

Rethinking the economics of rural water in Africa

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2020