Community Participation In Water Resources Governance In Semi-Arid Areas: A Case Of Mbabala Ward, Dodoma Municipality

ABSTRACT

This study entitled “Community Participation in Water Resources Governance in Semiarid Areas: A Case of Mbabala Ward, Dodoma Municipality” was conducted in three selected villages namely: Bihawana, Mbabala „A‟ and Mbabala „B‟. The study was conducted in the year 2015 and data were collected using questionnaire survey and interviews. This study involved 28 respondents selected from three villages whereby (9) respondents were taken from Bihawana, (9) respondents from Mbabala „A‟, (9) respondents from Mbabala „B‟ and 5 key informants. During data analysis Quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 16. Respondents revealed that community participation in Mbabala ward is at a very low level where by village and ward committees are only deciders of water issues in the community. This study concluded that, insufficient water resources has influence on degradation of available water resources due to high demand of improvement of community livelihood through excessive exploitation of available water for construction, agriculture, livestock and domestic uses. Therefore, there is a need for community to be educated on hydroclimate information systems in water management so as to cope with the challenges of climate change. As part of study, it was recommended that community should enact by-laws that restrict people to mine sand within the water runoff channels that conserve water for open pit. Also it was concluded that involvement of all stakeholders and rising awareness on power of participatory as a means of solving water resource governance issues could results into better performance of water resource governance.