Toolbox

Rural Water Finance

Research focus & objectives

The research examines the financial and operational sustainability of rural water services in sub-Saharan Africa to inform policy and practice. The field-based study focuses on a professional service delivery model implemented in rural Mali. Applying quantitative and qualitative methods, the research explores 1) institutional, technological, and environmental factors and 2) their implications for contract design, consumer demand, and revenue generation to sustain the professional delivery of rural drinking water services.

Methods applied

The empirical research is anchored in a pragmatic approach. It applies mixed methods to achieve its objectives following a case study approach (Flyvbjerg, 2006; Gerring, 2004; Ragin, 1992; Yin, 2009).
The research is based on quantitative longitudinal performance data from a drinking water service provider, climatological data, and qualitative contextual data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with various stakeholders, on site observations from in-person fieldwork, and document analysis. Combining primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data allows for triangulation and corroboration and enables to develop a more accurate account of a phenomenon studied (Yin, 2009).
The longitudinal operational and financial performance data covering more than three years of ongoing operations provide for an empirical understanding of how rural households use and pay for reliable water services across different infrastructure types, payment modalities, and seasons. To contextualise the quantitative findings, semi-structured interviews with water users, community representatives and local government officials were conducted in Mali.

Analytical tools & literature

The quantitative and qualitative data were assessed using complementary analytical approaches:

The empirical strategy underlying the quantitative analyses exploits the availability of longitudinal waterpoint performance data to model the effects of variation of key independent variables over time. One study applies an interrupted time series design (Kontopantelis et al., 2015; Linden, 2015; Lopez Bernal et al., 2016; Penfold and Zhang, 2013) to ascertain whether the switch from handpump to solar kiosk has an effect on the level and the trend of specific outcomes. Another study applies fixed effects regression models to longitudinal data to estimate the effect of a change in payment modalities on use and payment behaviours, thereby accounting for the correlation between recurring monthly observations for an individual unit (Best and Wolf, 2014; Cunningham, 2021; Wooldridge, 2010). Both papers visualise the quantitative data to reveal dynamics and nuanced patterns over time.
The project draws on primary data from fieldwork and data collected through qualitative document analysis to illustrate how contractual revisions address the challenge of contractual incompleteness and related contingencies for rural water service delivery. This analytical strategy follows the rationale that “important aspects of institutions and institutional change appear in the form of qualitative evidence” (Skarbek, 2020, p. 409).

References

Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research. Qual. Inq. 12, 219– 245 [link]
Gerring, J., 2017. Qualitative Methods. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 20, 15–36. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-092415-024158
Gerring, J. (2004). What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for? Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. 98, 341– 354.
Johnson, R.B., Onwuegbuzie, A.J., 2004. Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come. Educ. Res. 33, 14–26 [link]
Johnson, R.B., Onwuegbuzie, A.J., Turner, L.A., 2007. Toward a Definition of Mixed Methods Research. J. Mix. Methods Res. 1, 112–133 [link]
Kontopantelis, E., Doran, T., Springate, D.A., Buchan, I., Reeves, D., 2015. Regression based quasi-experimental approach when randomisation is not an option: interrupted time series analysis. BMJ 350, h2750–h2750 [link]
Linden, A., 2015. Conducting Interrupted Time-series Analysis for Single- and Multiple-group Comparisons. Stata J. Promot. Commun. Stat. Stata 15, 480–500 [link]
Lopez Bernal, J., Cummins, S., Gasparrini, A., 2016. Interrupted time series regression for the evaluation of public health interventions: a tutorial. Int. J. Epidemiol [link]
Narayanasamy, N. (2009). Participatory rural appraisal: principles, methods and application. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles. Deliverable 6.2 30
Penfold, R. B. & Zhang, F. (2013). Use of Interrupted Time Series Analysis in Evaluating Health Care Quality Improvements. Acad. Pediatr. 13, S38–S44 [link]
Ragin, C.C., 1992. Introduction: Cases of “What is a case?,” in: Ragin, C.C., Becker, H.S. (Eds.), What Is a Case?: Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry.
Skarbek, D. (2020). Qualitative research methods for institutional analysis. J. Institutional Econ. 16, 409–422 [link]
Yin, R.K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. SAGE.

Researcher

Johannes Wagner

Johannes Wagner is a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. His research examines water use and payment behaviours of rural water users in sub-Saharan Africa. His field-based study focuses on policy issues informing how rural users use and pay for drinking water across service delivery models, payment methods, and infrastructure types using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Prior to joining his PhD program, Johannes worked for four years as a policy advisor on behalf of the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) for the sustainable development of the water and sanitation sector in Mali.