| dc.description.abstract | This study examined the influence of community participation in planning, pricing and monitoring
of water services on compliance to payment for water services taking Kitgum Town as a case study
area. 54 members of the Business Community Association in Kitgum were interviewed on their level
of participation in water service provision and their compliance to payment for water. The views of
key informants were also consulted in an in-depth interview with the Commercial Officer ofNWSCKitgum
area and the chairperson of LCIII. A Focused Group Discussion with other political
representatives in the town was also conducted. Frequency analysis was used to explore the extent to
which the community participates in planning, pricing and monitoring of water services and linear
regression was used to establish the influence of community participation in planning, pricing and
monitoring of water services on compliance to payment for these services.
The findings in a multiple regression summary implied a positive relationship with the overall
correlation (linear relationship) between compliance to payment (dependent variable) and
community participation being r=0.56, which is consistent with recent research on community
participation in water services (Mugumya, 2013). This means that community participation in water
services planning, pricing and monitoring can significantly increase their compliance to water
services payment. The findings further revealed that the current community participation in water
services planning, pricing and monitoring in Kitgum is not very inclusive but rather taken to be only
perfunctory. Representatives do not have the information and the needed tools to make contributions
that represent the interested of the community.
The study recommended that community participation should be expanded to include most of the
sections of the community with programs to empower the community on effective participation and
engagement techniques and written, effectively distributed guidelines. There is need for regular
community meetings on the water services and use of a far-reaching forum to communicate on meter
prices, changes in water tariffs, and monitoring tools. | en_US |
