Blog Post #7- Water and Poverty Reduction: A Case Study From Angola

Water and Poverty Reduction: A Case Study From Angola

Introduction:

It is undeniable that lack of access to clean water is a key indicator in measuring poverty. Rural communities not only in Africa, but all over the world, are often the most affected by lack of infrastructure in regard to water. This is partly due to minimal funds and far physical distance from large urban areas. However, many countries' urban areas also have issues with access to clean water, whether it be from poor management or funding. In this blog post, I am going to look at Angola. Drought and climate change has certainly played a role in many water crises occurring all over the world like the cases I have discussed previously in the blog like South Africa and along the Zambezi, though Angola does not fall within this category. The country has an abundance of water, yet many communities are below the water threshold per person for clean water. 

Borgen Project 2017

Water Poverty:

There are many ways to define the term "water poverty" as the term broadly defines the phenomena of how, in an almost symbiotic way, water and issues regarding it perpetuates or alleviates poverty and vice versa. There are social ways of defining how these two link together; looking at the inequalities in society and how that connects to "observable deprivations" with water. (Kemp-Benedict et al. 2011). But some are more economical such as looking at industry, particularly agriculture, has a low productivity and thus this inefficient use economically hurts communities but also people. (Ibid.). However, the two are used together in the water-poverty index that combines aspects like access to water, water supply, ecosystem needs, and water-management capacity which has been accepted as a operational form of the other two ways of looking at water poverty. Accepting the relationship between water and poverty is an important step towards analyzing a country for development projects or initiatives. 

AAA Water

Angola Background:

Like many African countries, Angola is an incredibly resource rich country being one of the continent's leaders in oil and the fourth largest diamond producer in the world. (AMCOW 2015). However, despite its high GDP per capita, it ranks 150 out of 188 in the Human Development Index (HDI) and has a high poverty rate of 36.6% (18.6% in urban areas and 58.7% in rural areas). (CMI 2018). The population varies from 16-18 million. (IFAD 2014). What I have discovered while researching Angola is that there is a lot of variance in data surrounding the country's population, economy, and other rural vs urban statistics because of the lack of government reporting. The last census conducted in Angola was in 1970. (Ibid.). This lack of current data is a huge hindrance to development initiatives by local NGOs or large organizations like the World Bank. Without current data, it is extremely difficult to estimate the severity of certain crises or even gage basic poverty levels. However, despite not having census data, the numbers surrounding Angola in regards to social factors affecting HDI show the same trends across many estimations: that there are low literacy rates, an extreme gender gap, and lack of basic sanitation in water.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Agriculture:

The country's rich resources are not reducing poverty though. About two thirds of the population is dependent on agriculture, yet only about 10% of the land is arable. (Ibid.). There certainly isn't an issue of water shortage in Angola though as the country gets suitable rain and has an abundance of natural water sources. Water shortage doesn't necessarily equate to poverty though; it is more about how it is used and the access to it that affects poverty rates. (Kaczan and Ward 2010). And that is exactly what is happening in Angola. Poor infrastructure puts an extreme limitation on where agriculture can happen and how it can happen. The current state of Angolan agriculture is riddled with inefficient farming practices that not only lower productivity but also degrades the land. (CMI 2018 and IFAD 2014). However, a lot of these inefficiencies could be solved with the government investing more into irrigation and increasing access to water in these more rural and isolated areas. According to Agriculture Development Theory, development of agriculture is almost a prerequisite of developing other sectors and communities out of poverty. (Kemp-Benedict et al.). Before Angola can improve things like literacy, mortality rates, etc, the government needs to improve its water infrastructure. 

African Business Magazine 2017

Drinking Water:

Going off of water infrastructure issues, there is little development of the country's water sanitation facilities and even less in regard to infrastructure that could provide citizens with clean drinking water. The current infrastructure in Luanda, the capital, was built during colonial times to serve a population of only half a million and has not been expanded to give access to the presently 4 million living there. (Cain 2018). Due to this lack of infrastructure, many in the city, and across the country, rely on unregulated water supplies. One survey reveals that nearly 63% of Angola's urban population relies on unregulated water from tanker trucks. (AMCOW 2015). Water from these trucks are often unsanitary as they are filled up from outside the city rivers and may remain in the truck stagnant which leads to further risk of disease and bacteria. However, due to Angola's rapid urbanization, state-sponsored water supply cannot keep up with the rapidly growing demand for water. The informal market then must satisfy these demands, despite it being inefficient and risky. The government of Angola sees this informal sector as a hindrance to development, however studies suggest that a partnership with these community actors could vastly improve this water crisis. (Cain 2018). Community management of water could potentially allow advancements in reach, faster response times to breakdowns, and localized knowledge of demand and need. (Ibid.). A shift towards this kind of privatization has been recommended by the World Bank as linkages to a developed private sector often leads to development as a whole. (Auriol and Picard 2006).   

Angola Field Group 2014