Suchergebnisse

Participation of stakeholders at the local level is evolving as a mechanism to address complex environmental problems, not least water pollution. Participation has been used as a tool for the economic and social empowerment of settlements within the catchment of the Korle lagoon in Ghana, particularly residents of the Old Fadama community that live in proximity to the lagoon. Using direct observations and survey of stakeholder groups, the paper examines the structure and process of participation of stakeholders in Korle lagoon resource use and water policy formulation and implementation with regard to Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP). The results show that exclusion of stakeholders generates conflict and antagonism which hinders the implementation of water resource policy. Alliances of stakeholders in the participatory process have served as pressure points compelling government to negotiate with civil society on behalf of the community. In theory, participation holds promise to address conflict, however in practice, a number of factors that feed into conflict characterise the process of participation in this case, such as ineffective information flow in the community, agency-structure dynamics, historical antecedents among the ethnic groups and low-levels of communication. These gaps jointly undermine the full participation of the Old Fadama community in lagoon management.

SummaryNegotiating safer sex among married women has been identified as an important determinant of vulnerability or resilience to new HIV infections. Using the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey data of 2010, this paper examined negotiation for safer sex among 11,218 married women in the context of Cambodia's highly touted reduction in HIV/AIDS prevalence. The results from a complementary log-log regression model indicate that wealthier and highly educated married women were more likely to report that they can refuse sexual intercourse and ask their husbands to use a condom. Interestingly, while women who were fully involved in decision-making on their own health care were 19% more likely to refuse sex, they were 14% less likely to be able to ask their husbands to use a condom, compared with their counterparts who were not involved in this decision-making. Women who were partially involved in decision-making on family visits were 17% less likely to be able to ask their husbands to use a condom compared with those who were not involved. In this context, involvement in decision-making may have translated into trust and risk compensation. Those who believed in HIV transmission myths were less likely to negotiate safer sex relative to their counterparts who did not hold such myths to be true. Women's ability to negotiate for safer sex is, therefore, a function of their autonomy in terms of their full participation in decision-making in health care, household expenditure and mobility. Policy implications of the capacity of women to negotiate for safer sex are delineated.

The realization of the scale, magnitude, and complexity of the water and sanitation problem at the global level has compelled international agencies and national governments to increase their resolve to face the challenge. There is extensive evidence on the independent effects of urbanicity (rural-urban environment) and wealth status on access to water and sanitation services in sub-Saharan Africa. However, our understanding of the joint effect of urbanicity and wealth on access to water and sanitation services across spatio-temporal scales is nascent. In this study, a pooled regression analysis of the compositional and contextual factors that systematically vary with access to water and sanitation services over a 25-year time period in fifteen countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was carried out. On the whole, substantial improvements have been made in providing access to improved water sources in SSA from 1990 to 2015 unlike access to sanitation facilities over the same period. Households were 28.2 percent and 125.2 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources in 2000–2005 and 2010–2015 respectively, than in 1990–1995. Urban rich households were 329 percent more likely to have access to improved water sources compared with the urban poor. Although access to improved sanitation facilities increased from 69 percent in 1990–1995 and 74 percent in 2000–2005 it declined significantly to 53 percent in 2010–2015. Urban rich households were 227 percent more likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities compared with urban poor households. These results were mediated and attenuated by biosocial, socio-cultural and contextual factors and underscore the fact that the challenge of access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa is not merely scientific and technical but interwoven with environment, culture, economics and human behaviour necessitating the need for interdisciplinary research and policy interventions.