ABSTRACT

This paper explores the extent to which Malawi’s national water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) sector programmes align with the lived realities of Malawian people through interviews, observations and a review of secondary documents. Significant progress is unquestionably being made, but there are dangers in momentary achievements being romanticized, and under-capacity in shaping cultural practices, investing and maintaining longevity and sustainability of available infrastructures. We argue that managing the sector towards statistical summaries serves to confound well-intentioned governance frameworks and compliance regimes ultimately leaving behind a large proportion of the population without access to basic drinking water or improved sanitation.

摘要

本文通过访谈、观察和对二手文件的审查，探讨了马拉维的国家水、环境卫生和个人卫生 (WaSH) 部门计划在多大程度上与马拉维人民的生活现实保持一致。毫无疑问正在取得重大进展，但存在将一时的成就浪漫化的危险，以及塑造文化实践、投资和维持现有基础设施的寿命和可持续性的能力不足。我们认为，根据统计摘要管理该部门有助于混淆善意的治理框架和合规制度，最终导致很大一部分人口无法获得基本的饮用水或改善的卫生设施。