Millennium development goals and water service delivery strategies: reflections on the fit between national and local policies on water in the context of global poverty alleviation initiatives

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Periodical article

Title:	Millennium development goals and water service delivery strategies: reflections on the fit between national and local policies on water in the context of global poverty alleviation initiatives
Authors:	Thompson, Lisa Nleya, Ndodana
Year:	2008
Periodical:	Africanus
Volume:	38
Issue:	2
Pages:	115-128
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	water supply government policy local government poverty reduction development
Abstract:	This paper investigates the link between poverty alleviation and the millennium development goals (MDGs). Based on fieldwork carried out in 2004/2005 and 2007, it focuses on the ways in which the achievement of targets on water service delivery, including sanitation, help to improve the quality of life of poor communities in the township setting of Khayelitsha, Western Cape, South Africa. The paper argues that it is clear that the achievement of MDG goals in South Africa in the area of water service delivery have not led to de facto satisfactory service delivery in the eyes of many communities. In many instances, communities have negative perceptions of government water service provision policies and their participatory role in service delivery generally. The paper concludes that the MDG may obscure aspects of chronic poverty relating to services by hiding the realities of ill-conceived water and sanitation policies on the ground behind a front of deceptively packaged water and sanitation provision statistics. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]