Cuamba Municipality, the capital of water? : A case study of the inclusion of female interests in water governance in Cuamba municipality, Mozambique.

Abstract The purpose of this research is to examine if female interests have been included in different levels of water governance in Cuamba municipality, Mozambique in order to understand if gender equality and women empowerment is being addressed at the grassroots level. In Sub-Saharan Africa women generally have the responsibility of fetching water and are therefore directly affected by the quality and accessibility of water and sanitation services. Though gender mainstreaming and policies addressing gender equality has been adopted in Mozambique, the actual difference that these measures have made to the lives of women in Mozambique is questionable. A qualitative single case study has been conducted, by interviewing government institutions, the private sector and civil society actors at district and municipality level in Cuamba. The findings reveal that it is the municipality government, FIPAG and the traditional leaders that are the main actors with the power over the distribution of water in Cuamba and through a joint effort the water situation has improved a lot in recent years. The interest in water among women was mainly focused to having a water source while the main interests among men was to have a shorter distance as well as shorter queues to the water source. An abductive method of the analytical framework consisting of four dimensions of water governance and rethinking em(power)ment, gender and development has been used to guide the analysis of the findings in a more comprehensive manner thus investigating the power structures in each dimension of water governance with a focus on women empowerment. The result indicates that women living in the urban areas were more empowered in all notions of power due to better access to information and education thus giving them more time and individual knowledge to collectively and individually demand power over the distribution of water. Due to lack of empowerment among women living in the rural areas, these women demanded less regarding the distribution of water and had less individual understanding of water governance. Furthermore the interests among women living in the rural areas were mostly included in the decision-making processes as it generally concerned having access to a clean water source. As the women in the urban areas demanded more and had more interests in water governance it became clear that the female interests in the urban areas were not included in decision-making. By including more women in decision-making bodies in water governance and putting more emphasis on education for women these issues could be addressed