Revue du Journal arabe des affaires et de la gestion

Decentralization and Water Service Delivery in Dar es Salaam

Abstract

Eston Kwach, Charles Adam and Rashid Abdalla Shangazi

This study focused on the examining the increased attention to water in decentralization which is an issue that needs immediate action because without water there is no life. One way to improve performance of water service delivery is to fully decentralize this service and allow the decisions relating to water service delivery to be locally made for the local development. This study examined the impact of decentralization on water service delivery in Ukonga ward, Ilala District of Dar Es salaam, Tanzania. Existence of few empirical studies on the impact of decentralization on water service delivery is the motivation for this study. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey design that involved the use of questionnaires and interviews in collecting data from a sample of 375 respondents randomly selected from a population of 19,290 households of Ukonga ward. The study recommends that all the government through its agents responsible for water service delivery such as DAWASCO (Dar es salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation) and other agents in the local government level needs to use more resources and take a proactive approach in order to solve these problems such as; the price of piped water, the cost of water connection, cost of water maintenance, accessibility of water from DAWASCO well and access of piped water from DAWASCO. Finally the government should fully implement its policy of decentralization by devolution so that services such as water can be realistically closer to the people.