With Who Should the Responsibilities of Water Supply and Adequate Sanitation in Africa Lie?

Nowadays, clean water is accessible in almost every household in most countries in the world but not in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report of United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) in 1997, where a quarter of urban populations and incredibly almost two-thirds of rural people cannot access clean water, and a larger number of them do not have access to adequate sanitation (UNCHS & UNDP, 1998: 3). The lack of clean water and the poor sanitation conditions in Africa are leading to many public health problems, such as diarrhoea, non-diarrhoea disease, and infant mortality. Moreover, the adversity of lacking clean water not only brings about such issues, but also precipitates the slowdown of economic development in Africa.

Many African countries have already found the importance of clean water and sanitation for a long time, and they tried to increase the number of people who can access clean water and well sanitation. However, many countries failed in their attempts. Those failures probably are not because they did not push hard or did not provide enough funding. Other factors should be considered to improve the situation. My essay will firstly discuss who should be responsible for providing clean water and sanitation, and then find one solution for the critical issue. Contrary to traditional thinking of public management, this essay will argue that the private sectors and local communities should play more important roles in public policy arena. Some research shows that the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) probably can become the solution for the adversity (Tati, 2005; Lewis & Miller, 1987). As a matter of fact, without the assisting of private sectors and communities, it is not likely to be achieved in providing good constructions and services. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) means public sectors cooperate with private sectors to provide public services jointly. This method has two main benefits: to release the financial stress of...