 Pragmatism as an approach for decision-making: Why two Kenyan water utilities opted for pre-paid water dispensersKlaas Schwartz and Akosua Boakye-Ansah Utilities Policy, 2023, vol. 84, issue C Abstract: Since the late 1990's a growing number of urban water utility providers in Africa have adopted pre-paid water dispensers as a service delivery option for low-income areas within their service areas. Meanwhile, the use of such pre-paid technology for water delivery especially for the low-income consumer has been subject to debate in the water services sector. While one stream of literature mainly explores the potentials of the technology, a second stream focuses on the limits such technology presents, particularly for the low-income consumer. While acknowledging the contributions of both streams of literature on the debate on pre-paid dispensers in water services, this article explores why managers of water utilities adopt pre-paid dispensers for their operations in the low-income areas and how the technology is implemented in practice. Through a case study of two Kenyan cities (Nakuru and Kisumu), this article argues that in opting for pre-paid dispenser, the water utilities adopt a pragmatic approach, accepting solutions they may consider sub-optimal but which, at a particular moment and within a given context, may be the best they can do. Keywords: Water supply; Pre-paid pispensers; Pragmatism (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juipol:v:84:y:2023:i:c:s0957178723001352 DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2023.101623 Access Statistics for this article Utilities Policy is currently edited by Beecher, Janice More articles in Utilities Policy from Elsevier |
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