Shared governance of drinking water in rural Senegal. Using the commons-based approach to co-produce a public service?
This handbook describes the approach taken by GRET to facilitate the emergence of a shared governance of the drinking water service in the Saint-Louis region in Senegal in the context of a national reform to delegate this public service to private operators.
Following on from more than 15 years of support, GRET adopted a commons-based approach, leading it to clarify its positioning with respect to the service’s stakeholders. By using participatory modelling exercises, the stakeholders were able to build a shared vision of their interdependencies and subsequently enter into collaborative dialogue through a serious game. Interconnections between local and national actions paved the way for the implementation of a local monitoring committee, enabling users to become fully involved in monitoring and controlling the service alongside the delegated operator and public authorities, representing the beginnings of public service co-production.
