“A crisis of climate or choice? Risks and responses to improving water security for the poor”
Prof. Rob Hope Biography
Professor Rob Hope holds a joint appointment as Professor of Water Policy at the School of Geography and the Environment and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. His research interests focus on water economics, policy and poverty in Africa and Asia. He is Director of the REACH programme, a member of ESRC's International Development Expert Group for the Global Challenges Research Programme, and is a member of an expert consultative group on global monitoring and WASH affordability convened by UNICEF and the WHO. He has won competitive research grants from the UK Research and Innovation (NERC, ESRC), FCDO/DFID, UNICEF, USAID, the World Bank, the Skoll Foundation and the Gates Foundation. He is Academic Director on the MSc Water Science, Policy and Management and supervises a small group of outstanding DPhil/PhD students. He is a Trustee of Water Services Maintenance Trust Fund in Kenya.
Title: A Crisis of Climate or Choice? Risks and response to improving water security for the poor
Abstract: This lecture on the climate crisis from the perspective of social choices in rural Africa and Asia. We situate the discussion in terms of the risks and responses people face in their lives and livelihoods at home, work and school. Drawing upon inter-disciplinary research with practitioners in multiple countries, we review multi-decadal data which provides insights into the structural inequalities which constrain the daily chores of rural people. A legacy of well-meaning but poorly executed policy and investments demand new thinking in allocating water security risks and responsibilities between communities markets and states. We discuss emerging responses including the launch f performance based funding for rural water services for over one million people in the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Uganda