| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
Water is a precious, scarce resource that is essential for sustaining life and development in all sectors of the economy. It is a necessary input to almost all activities which are vital to livelihoods and human welfare, as well as to production processes. However, despite all these, the water problem in Uganda is persisting since half of the districts are said to be still below the national average of 63% yet water coverage in 130 sub-counties (out of 1,024) is also below 39%. Equally, there is disparity in the functionality of water facilities across districts. This in turn affects people‟s livelihoods and in the long run affects national efforts to achieve
Sustainable Development Goals. The study explored the relationship between water security and
rural livelihood outcomes of people within Lwengo District. Specifically, the study examined: the main livelihood strategies of the local people; their water security status; and the local impact of water security status on the livelihood outcomes. The study was guided by the livelihood analytical framework, water security as independent variable whereas livelihood outcomes as dependent variable The study was conducted, mainly in Kyazanga and Malongo Sub counties in Lwengo district which receive relatively low rainfall and have long dry spells and perennial water shortages.
A mixed methods approach was used to collect data. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 330 randomly selected local residents. Further, a total of 16 key informant interviews were conducted (8 local leaders, 6 members of water user committees, 2 district water officers), 20 Focus Group Discussions (10 in each sample village) were conducted. Secondary data were also collected from a review of documents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics (SPSS 21).
The main socio-economic activity was on-farm activities undertaken by 51 percent of the households. It was practiced on a small scale and mainly in the form of rain-fed agriculture. There was only one reliable and all season source of water, but so remotely located, at a distance approximately 2.5km that on average a household used 3 hours for a return trip and travelled 20km in extreme cases in search of water which consumed a lot of productive time. Schools too were significantly affected with children spending substantial school time searching for water for personal use at school and for teachers. Water was thus a major constraint to rural livelihood since it affected most of the key factors of development including health, education and people‟s major economic activities. The study recommends promotion of appropriate technologies and initiatives such as Rain Water Harvesting (RWH). There also is need to diversify the livelihood activities from on-farm (crop and livestock production) into off- and non-farm economic activities with application of appropriate policy programs, for instance, removing credit market
imperfections and creation of accessible credit schemes which can facilitate the establishment of
off-farm businesses and promote agricultural development simultaneously | en_US |
