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CHAPTER 4
Rural Water Supply Corruption
in Ethiopia
Roger Calow, Alan MacDonald, and Piers Cross
Introduction
In Ethiopia, investment in rural water supply underpins the government’s
poverty reduction efforts. The challenge is huge: roughly 50 percent of
the (mainly rural) population still have no access to safe water, and the
country has the highest number of people in Sub-Saharan Africa without
access to improved water supply and sanitation. The consequences are
dire: every year, roughly 250,000 children die from diseases related to
poor water and sanitation, and many others face the daily grind of collecting
water from distant sources.
To meet the challenge, the government has set ambitious targets under
its Universal Access Program (UAP) to achieve full coverage by 2012, with
major investment from government, donors, and (increasingly) communities.
Considering the scale of the challenge, Ethiopia has made significant
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions and field work by Derek Ball,
Yemareshet Yemane, and Elizabeth Mekonnen.
Although this chapter results from studies completed by January 2010, the process of checking,
reviewing, and securing agreement for publication was finally brought to conclusion
only in late 2011. The chapter is therefore put forward with the caveat that while it reflects
the situation at the time of the study, some details will have understandably changed.
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