Beyond COP26 and Participatory water governance in South Africa

Beyond COP26: Lessons from South Africa on water and community health

Despite legislative and policy commitments to the right to water, cooperative governance and public participation, there is limited participation more importantly with the marginalized rural communities to respond to their needs. We present doctoral research embedded within a 5-year MRC programme, developing local knowledge on health priorities in a rural province and advancing processes to engage multi-sectoral stakeholders to respond to lack of safe water as a community nominated priority in rural South Africa

This is episode 1, Beyond COP26 and Participatory water governance in South Africa with your host Jennifer Hove, a research fellow from Wits university and co-host Denny Mabetha a researcher from Wits/Agincourt HDSS in collaboration with Aberdeen University. This series is about ‘doing work WITH not ON or FOR the community, encouraging co-production of evidence, democratization of knowledge and interdisciplinarity/ inter-sector working. The guests in this panel are Mr Mnisi, a community member from Agincourt HDSS, to understand water and environment, community perspective and experience on lack of water, a community nominated health priority. The second guest, Mr C Khosa, is a service provider, representing Bushbuckridge Municipality. As part of the Verbal Autopsy with Participatory Action Research (VAPAR), this work aims to improve evidence base for marginalized communities, connecting with service providers and partnering for change. This first series was recorded at Bushbuckridge Municipality in Mpumalanga South Africa.