Participatory assessment of the resilience trajectory of rural water supply systems in the Nordeste (Brazil) and central Tunisia: from household to water territory - Hela Gasmi

In semi-arid rural areas, the access to rural water supply systems (RWSS) is crucial and allows a diversity of productive and domestic activities that play a central role in ensuring the livelihood of family farmers and their resilience to extreme weather events.

citerne pg© Photo 1: Tank for rainwater harvesting and storage,  Quixeramobim, Brazil (Hela Gasmi, Cirad, January 2020)

 

The originality of the RWSS is twofold. Firstly, these systems mobilize multiple water resources: surface runoff, groundwater, rainwater, surface water stored in small dams, etc. Their mobilization depends on climatic conditions and on infrastructure and uses at the level of the catchment area. Secondly, there are many uses of water within the family unit, ensuring the supply of drinking water, domestic water and agro-pastoral water.

 

 

 

 

citerne2 pg© Photo 2 : Tank for rainwater harvesting and storage, Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia (Hela Gasmi, Cirad, August 2020)

 

 

However, very often, in the face of severe droughts, external interventions are organized to provide only drinking water supply networks to improve water access in rural areas. Local communities have often faced multiple problems with these water supply networks, in particular the focus on a single water resource and a single use (drinking water), and the dependence of the population on often failing networks. The gap between the needs of rural families, and the design and the management of water services, leads to transformations of the drinking water network, operated by the communities, into domestic and agricultural water supply system.

The objective of the thesis will be to develop a participatory approach to identify and analyze the trajectory of rural water supply systems in order to improve the water resilience of rural communities. It takes as case studies two water territories in the Northeast of Brazil, particularly affected by a series of droughts, and two territories in the steppe region of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia.

 

 

Keywords: rural water supply systems, resilience, participatory approach.

 

Additional Info

  • Contact:
    PhD student: Gasmi Hela
    Postal address: Rua Doutor José Lourenço 1109-apt 304, Aldeoata, Fortaleza 60115-281.
    Phone : +55 85 9943-3461
    E-mail : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • THESIS INFORMATION:
    Doctoral school: GAIA
    Thesis Directors: Marcel Kuper, Eduardo Martins
    Supervisors: Julien Burte, Sylvie Morardet
    Start date: 05/05/2020
    Defense date: 30/04/2023
  • Team(s) of Joint Research Unit concerned:

    INCA

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