Governing WASH for disaster risk reduction in Karonga Town, Malawi

This paper presents a critical analysis of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) governance and service delivery situation in the context of disaster risk reduction in Karonga Town in Malawi. The institutional arrangements, the role of actors and their capacity challenges are examined against policy and legal frameworks and financing mechanisms. Empirical data presented in this paper is drawn from interviews and documentary analysis. The paper shows that despite their importance, the interlinkages between WASH and disaster risks in policy and practice receive very limited attention in Karonga. The paper shows that the governance of WASH services is negatively impacted by a multiplicity of factors including the absence of a specific local and national WASH legal framework; a situation which is aggravated by the absence of a governance structure for the town. Specifically, while the local council has the mandate derived from the Local Government Act for governance and enforcement of WASH services, the responsibility is also placed in Northern Region Water Board (NRWB). This disconnect creates room for conflicts between the local council, and the NRWB as well as residents. In the absence of a specific legal and governance framework for the town, the delivery of services is based on imposed rural oriented organizational structures which impede initiatives for the urban focused interventions as it is based on village orientations governed by traditional chiefs. The paper suggests that in order to improve the governance and delivery of WASH services, and thereby reduce disaster risks, there is a need to promulgate a WASH law and to build the capacity of the local council to enforce this law and to recognize the interlinkages between WASH and disaster risk and other pressing issues.