Rural Piped-Water Enterprises in Cambodia: A Pathway to Women’s Empowerment?
Based on:
Journal Article (2019)
This research examined the extent to which women’s ownership and management of water supply schemes led to their empowerment, including their economic empowerment, in rural Cambodia. Privately managed water supply schemes in rural Cambodia serve over one million people.
Brief by:
Research collaborators:
This study is the first of its kind to systematically investigate the experiences and needs of female water supply scheme owners, using well-established theoretical frameworks for women’s empowerment, namely Longwe’s stages of empowerment, and Rowlands, VeneKlasen and Miller’s elaboration on different types of power.
Business management frameworks relevant to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector were also drawn on to assess operational constraints and enablers. Fifteen structured interviews were conducted with female water entrepreneurs in rural Cambodia.
Key findings
Female entrepreneurs reported encountering four key barriers to establishing and managing water supply schemes.
The first was operational, and government and regulatory related issues, followed by financial issues and limited demand for water services.
Three important enablers were reported by entrepreneurs: social enablers, economic enablers and program support from government, associations and non-government organisations (NGOs).
Whilst there was evidence of empowerment reported by female water enterprise owners, the complexity of the ongoing empowerment process, challenges and limitations were also observed.
Proposed action
Support women to know about the financial benefits and risks of water enterprises, so that their expectations around profit levels, and return on investment, are realistic
Respond to operational challenges
Build an understanding of gender differences and challenges into programming so that the differences identified by entrepreneurs and stakeholders are responded to (e
Governments and donors can support entrepreneurs to build their customer base by helping to design and deliver community education campaign about the importance of clean water and the benefits of connecting to a piped water scheme
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to iDE Global
These insights were made available thanks to the support of iDE Global, who are committed to the dissemination of knowledge for all.
Special thanks to Arianne Zajac for preparation assistance
We would like to extend a special thank you to Arianne Zajac, for their invaluable contribution in assisting the preparation of this research summary.
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Rural Piped-Water Enterprises in Cambodia: A Pathway to Women’s Empowerment?
Cite this brief: Grant, Melita. 'Rural Piped-Water Enterprises in Cambodia: A Pathway to Women’s Empowerment?'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/rural-piped-water-enterprises-in-cambodia-a-pathway-to-womens-empowerment/
Brief created by: Melita Grant | Year brief made:
Original research:
- S. S., Grant, M., & et al., ‘Rural Piped-Water Enterprises in Cambodia: A Pathway to Women’s Empowerment?’ 11 (pp. 1–18) https://doi.org/10.3390/w11122541. – https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/12/2541
Research brief:
This research examined the extent to which women’s ownership and management of water supply schemes led to their empowerment, including their economic empowerment, in rural Cambodia. Privately managed water supply schemes in rural Cambodia serve over one million people.
This study is the first of its kind to systematically investigate the experiences and needs of female water supply scheme owners, using well-established theoretical frameworks for women’s empowerment, namely Longwe’s stages of empowerment, and Rowlands, VeneKlasen and Miller’s elaboration on different types of power.
Business management frameworks relevant to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector were also drawn on to assess operational constraints and enablers. Fifteen structured interviews were conducted with female water entrepreneurs in rural Cambodia.
Findings:
Female entrepreneurs reported encountering four key barriers to establishing and managing water supply schemes.
The first was operational, and government and regulatory related issues, followed by financial issues and limited demand for water services.
Three important enablers were reported by entrepreneurs: social enablers, economic enablers and program support from government, associations and non-government organisations (NGOs).
Whilst there was evidence of empowerment reported by female water enterprise owners, the complexity of the ongoing empowerment process, challenges and limitations were also observed.
Advice:
Support women to know about the financial benefits and risks of water enterprises, so that their expectations around profit levels, and return on investment, are realistic
- Offer and facilitate financial advice. Support is needed to help entrepreneurs to access low interest loans, and NGOs/donors/government could assist with up-front finance overall (to assist with establishing the scheme and connecting to remote properties) and development of alternative financing innovations (i.e. subsidised loan facilities).
Respond to operational challenges
- better communication between different levels of government (communal, provincial and national) and enterprises about construction works that may damage pipes/disrupt services is needed. Governments and donors can support feasibility studies so that entrepreneurs can hire qualified companies to conduct studies to determine the best locations for water sources and treatment plants.
Build an understanding of gender differences and challenges into programming so that the differences identified by entrepreneurs and stakeholders are responded to (e
- g. mobility and time constraints in particular). Safe transport options, additional support for women to be able to travel with their families (husband, children) and other methods to assist women to safely travel could be part of the response to this reported challenge of lack of mobility. An understanding of gender related challenges can be supported by the use of empowerment frameworks, so that a holistic understanding of a range of dimensions can be investigated and considered.
Governments and donors can support entrepreneurs to build their customer base by helping to design and deliver community education campaign about the importance of clean water and the benefits of connecting to a piped water scheme