People's participation in village rural water supply project in Soctrang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam | |
| Author | Tran Nguyen Thanh Thu |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-04-12 |
| Subject(s) | Water-supply, Rural--Vietnam Water-supply, Rural--Citizen participation |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Vietnam is now facing many development challenges and it should meet these challenges while learning how to create the institutions, by means of participatory approach to improve living conditions for rural poor people, particularly ethnic groups in remote areas. The government and people should be able to make informed decisions and sustainable development choices. The research dealt with people's participation in the rural water supply and sanitation (R WSS) project in Soc Trang province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The objectives of this research were to review institutional framework for participatory planning in village rural water supply project; investigate types of people's participation in village rural water supply; assess level of benefits and satisfaction level of people in the village rural water , supply project; analyze factors influencing people's participation, identify problems and give recommendations to strengthen people's participation in the rural water supply project. The scope of this study included local people's participation in decision-making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and operation and maintenance stages. The intensity of participation and benefits gained were assessed from activities launched by the project. Factors influencing on the intensity of participation were examined in demographic, economic and social and institutional aspects. Moreover, the institutional arrangements of the RWSS project were reviewed from national and provincial level policies and practices at local level. The research was conducted in two water systems comprising of PWS and HP using a survey questionnaire with a total of 67 sampled beneficial households as a prime method for data collection. The research was focused on quantitative analysis of the RWSS project but qualitative technique was also applied. Main findings of this research showed that people participated in the RWSS in a moderate level of intensity in decision-making, implementation stages, monitoring and evaluation and operation and maintenance stages that they participated occasionally. Their participation's intensity was varied from various activities in the RWSS project. The activities that could be involved people's participation directly, they tended to participate with a relatively occasionally degree of intensity in those specific activities. The intensity of people's participation in the whole RWSS process depended significantly on factors followed by membership of local organizations, gender, educational level, social status based on wealth ranking, occupation, household income, and household size. The benefits gained from participation in the RWSS in terms of social, economic and institutional aspects were moderate level, particularly in health aspect. Several problems were found in the project basically relating to institutional aspects. Certain recommendations were made to strengthen people's participation in various stages of the RWSS, enhance institutional benefits, identify potential factors to promote active participation, review institutional arrangements to facilitate people's participation and improve participatory technique by means of information, education and communication (IEC). |
| Year | 2004 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Soparth Pongquan |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko ;Chandhana Indhapanya |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | International Fellowship Programs of Ford Foundation |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2004 |