An investigation into strategies for sustainable urban water service provision in Zimbabwe: The case of Harare City Council

Abstract

This study was done to investigate City of Harare’s water strategies for sustainable urban water services. It targeted the adequacy of the tariffs, institutional set-up, recapitalization and conservation of wetlands as the key components for investigation. Harare Water Department was selected as the case study as it is the biggest such service provider in the country and at the core of water, sanitation and hygiene services in the capital city. Guided by the intepretivism paradigm, the study adopted the qualitative research method. The approach enabled the researcher to interact with the case and explored relationships defining the research problem and recommendations thereof. The inductive approach to research was therefore employed. Interviews and desk research strategies were employed to access relevant participants within the Covid-19 guidelines as advised by the Zimbabwean government. The target population comprised of employees from Harare water, other departments and representatives from both residents and government agencies. Purposive sampling was used to identify participants relevant to the study and deemed by virtue of their experiences, to be in the know of the problem under investigation. A sample size of 24 participants was arrived at after the researcher attained a data saturation stage. Primary data was then collected through semi structured interviews. The major findings of the study were that Harare Water Department was not well positioned to ensure sustainable service delivery hence a number of recommendations are made. The tariffs for water services were found to be sub-economic and affecting service continuity and efficiency. Recommendations include a revision of the institutional set-up to allow the department more control of its value chain and adoption of a strategic business model, a management tool to ensure strategic focus.