The Effectiveness of Community Participation in Urban Water Supply: A Narrative Review

Debates on the effectiveness of top-down versus bottom-up approaches in water management in urban areas are still ongoing. This study examines the effectiveness of community participation as a bottom-up approach. The narrative review is employed to describe 16 cases of community participation. Three themes emerge from the case studies: the success story and failure of community participation from outside of Indonesia, lessons learned and best practices of community participation from Indonesia, and self-supply as an alternative water provision. Then a discussion of the findings based on the themes found in the literature was carried out. The study found that community participation would be successful if the participatory elements were satisfied, including sufficient capacity and knowledge of the community involved to ensure meaningful participation, involving local government in the education of how to manage and conserve water supply, and involving women in project sustainability. Hence, a pure community participation approach, particularly in disadvantaged urban areas, cannot be achieved. Therefore, a holistic approach combining a top-down and a bottom-up approach is recommended. Self-supply water provision emerged as another method that has largely been ignored by the government and academia but serves as a common practice, particularly in developing countries.