Transforming Rural Water Governance: The Road from Resource Management to Political Activism in Nicaragua

225 Pages·2019·4.707 MB·English

by  Sarah T Romano

TRANSFORMING
RURAL WATER
G O V E R N A N C E

TRANSFORMING
R U R A L WAT E R
G O V E R N A N C E
The Road from Resource Management
to Political Activism in Nicaragua
SARAH T. ROMANO
The University of Arizona Press
www .uapress .arizona .edu
© 2019 by The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2019
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 8165- 3807- 2 (cloth)
Cover design by Leigh McDonald
All photos are by the author except where noted.
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the University of Northern Colorado’s Fund for
Faculty Publication.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data are available at the Library of Congress.
Printed in the United States of America
♾
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
In the absence of an effective state, civil society groups have important roles in
service delivery, while at the same time mobilizing society to demand better
governance. This means, of course, that civil society organizations will some-
times face the need to transform themselves (e.g. from service delivery to advo-
cacy), a task fully as difficult as transforming society.
—DEEPA NARAYAN, BONDS AND BRIDGES:
SOCIAL CAPITAL AND POVERTY
[Nicaragua] has potable water committees, which are expressions of society,
expressions of the community, which aren’t part of the government, and which
in an autonomous and self-sufficient manner promote and provide water and
sanitation service, principally potable water, in their own community.
—CARMEN PONG, COSUDE, MANAGUA, NOVEMBER 19, 2009
We have to formalize ourselves.
—POTABLE WATER AND SANITATION COMMITTEE
(CAPS) MEMBER, MANAGUA, NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xix
Abbreviations xxiii
Introduction: From Resource Management to
Political Activism 3
1. Rural Water Service from Dictatorship to Democracy 38
2. “Organic Empowerment” as a Grassroots Source of
Legitimacy and Authority 63
3. The Role of Allies in Bridging Divides 91
4. Shaping Politics through Discourse 120
5. Assessing Water Policies in Practice 137
Conclusion: Confronting and Creating Change from
the Grass Roots 159
Notes 171
References 179
Index 189

Illustrations
Figures
1. Anti–water privatization protesters in front of the state water
company, ENACAL, in December 2004 5
2. Residents collecting water at a CAPS-managed community
water tap in Tejerina, Matagalpa, April 2010 9
3. The author and CAPS members of the community of
El Bosque (Muy Muy, Matagalpa) visiting the water system
storage tank, July 2016 29
4. Improved water access in rural areas, 1979–2015 43
5. Domestic investments in urban water and sanitation and
rural water projects, 1980–86 51
6. Foreign investments in urban water and sanitation and rural
water projects, 1980–86 51
7. José Francisco presents his water committee’s organizational
structure for system maintenance 65
8. Residents of the community of El Naranjo (Sébaco, Matagalpa)
assemble and lay piping for their new gravity-fed water system
in April 2010 74
9. Delia, CAPS treasurer, in her home office in the community
of Molino Sur (Sébaco, Matagalpa) 79