Crafting co-governance: challenges of the long overdue Pesillo-Imbabura regional drinking water project in Ecuador

Co-governance of state and community organizations in drinking water provision is regarded as an effective and efficient way to achieve sustainable and inclusive water services. This study analyses the struggle over the management arrangement of the Pesillo-Imbabura regional drinking water project in the northern Sierra of Ecuador. It describes the troubled development of a large drinking water project, considering co-governance arrangements and effects on the autonomy, recognition, representation, and distributive outcomes for the (involved) communities. On paper, the institutional design was a good example of co-governance. In practice, the communities felt left out and envisioned much more control over the project. The communities that managed their own communal drinking water systems were marginalized in the Pesillo-Imbabura project by state policies for the execution of the project and the management of the new central water provision system. The government and donors overlooked the principle of hydraulic property creation which is important for the Indigenous communities because ensures Indigenous people control over their own identity. It establishes the direct link between the long struggle of the communities to get the project financed, the contribution to the construction of the infrastructure, and the creation of water use rights and obligations, but also the right to manage the system.