Livelihood rights perspective on water reform: Reflections on rural Zimbabwe

The right to water has been adopted as a human right in General Comment 15 by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It provides a new framework for law and policy supplanting the Dublin Principles that have too often been understood in the African context to mean water with the ‘right’ price. Does a human rights approach to water, especially in rural contexts, speak to the multiple ways in which men and women share and manage water? How are water tenure and land tenure linked in Zimbabwe's rural areas? We examine if and how local norms and practices include water within a broader right to livelihood. Substantial field research in Zimbabwe including ours demonstrates the existence of a right to water and livelihood, which can be responsive to gender and poverty. We suggest the incorporation of local norms and practices within water management laws and policies at regional, national and local levels.