Grappling with Gendered Crises: Women’s Access and Participation in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Activities at Tongogara Refugee Camp, Zimbabwe
Keywords:
Feminist Political Ecology; Patriarchy; Tongogara Refugee Camp; Water Sanitation and Hygiene; Zimbabwe
Abstract
This paper analyses the participation of women as primary providers, users and managers of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at household level in Tongogara Refugee Camp (TRC), in Zimbabwe. The study argues that the participation of women is essential for the success of WASH projects and for programme sustainability, but the patriarchal nature of the projects has left most women at the periphery of the planning process. Informed by a feminist political ecology (FPE) approach, the study utilises a qualitative methodology in which data were gathered through 68 interviews, five key informant interviews, eight Focus Group Discussions, observations and a desk review. The research findings show gaps in women’s access, use and control of WASH facilities. Despite their vast knowledge in water management, women still bear the brunt of water shortages and struggle for power. The study concludes that women still grapple with crises of access, use and control of WASH facilities in TRC. Improving access and availability of WASH facilities will reduce incidences of gender-based violence and the burden of WASH shortages on women in TRC.
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Leder S., Sugden F., Raut M., Ray D and Saikia P. 2019. Ambivalences of collective farming feminist political ecologies from Eastern India and Nepal International Journal of the Commons, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 105-129.
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Souyeon, N. 2018. Toward everyday practices of gender: Implications of feminist political ecology for gender mainstreaming in Korean ODA Department of International Development and Cooperation, Sungkyul University, Gyeonggido, South Korea . Asian Journal of Women's Studies ; Seoul Vol. 24, Iss. 4, 463-488.
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Yates, T., Allen, J., Leandre Joseph, M. and Lantagne, D. 2017. WASH interventions in disease outbreak response. Humanitarian Evidence Programme. Oxford: Oxfam GB.
Als D, Meteke S, Stefopulos M, et al. 2020. Delivering water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to women and children in conflict settings: a systematic review. BMJ Global Health: e002064. doi:10.1136/ bmjgh-2019-002064.
Arabi, M. 2019. Water, sanitation and hygiene in the Minawao refugee camp, Far North Cameroon International Journal of Resource and Environmental Management Vol. 4, No. 1.
Buechler S., Hanson Anne-Marie. 2017. Towards a feminist political ecology of women, global change, and vulnerable waterscapes, In book: A political ecology of women, water and global environmental change Publisher: Routledge Editors: A Political Ecology of Women, Water and Global Environmental Change, edited by Stephanie Buechler, and Anne-Marie S. Hanson, Taylor and Francis, ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uaz/detail. action? doc ID=1982456. Created from uaz on 2017-08-28 11:59:16.
Calderón Villarreal1, A., Schweitzer, R and Kayser, G. 2022. Social and geographic inequalities in water, sanitation and hygiene access in 21 refugee camps and settlements in Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe. International Journal for Equity in Health 21:27 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939 022 01626 3.
Chitongo L., Tagarirofa J., Chazovachii B., and Marango T. 2019. Gendered impacts of Climate Change in Africa: The case of Cyclone Idai, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, March 2019. The Fountain – Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Vol. 3, Issue 1.
Clement, F. Harcourt, W. Josh, D. Sato, C. 2019. A feminist political ecologies of the commons and the communing (Editorial to the Special feature), International Journal of the Commons, 13(1), 1-15, DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.972.
Cole S. 2017. Water worries: An intersectional feminist political ecology of tourism and water in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Annals of Tourism Research. 67. 14-24.
Doubleday, K. F. 2020. Tigers and “Good Indian Wives”: Feminist Political Ecology Exposing the Gender-Based Violence of Human–Wildlife Conflict in Rajasthan, India, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110:5, 1521-1539, DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2020.1723396.
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Ghosh, N S. 2018. Access to Water and Sanitation is Not Enough, but their Management to End the Crisis, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN: 2319-7064.
Goodrich C. G. and Namchu C. V. 2019. Identities, affiliations and gendered vulnerabilities in the Mid-hills of West Bengal Environmental Development (31) 78–87.
Grant, M. 2017. Gender Equality and Inclusion in Water Resources Management, Global Water Partnership, Institute for Sustainable Futures, Australia, ISBN 978-91-87823-40-4.
Greene, M. C., Rees, S., Likindikoki, S., Bonz, A. G, Joscelyne, A., Kaysen., D., 8, Reginald D. V. Nixon, R. D. V., Njau, Tankink, T. A. M., Tiwari, A., Ventevogel, P., Mbwambo, J. K. K. 4 and Tol, A., W. 2019. Developing an integrated intervention to address intimate partner violence and psychological distress in Congolese refugee women in Tanzania. BMC, New York, NY.
Halloway, K., Stavropoulo, M. & Daigle, M. 2019. Gender in Displacement, The state play, HPG Report/Working Paper. ODI. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Haque, S. S., Pagans, M. Y., Granada, Y. A. & Joseph, G. 2020. Water and sanitation in Dhaka slums: access, quality, and informality in service provision, Water International, 45:7-8, 791-811, DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2020.1786878.
Inter-Agency Standing Committee. 2015. Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action: Reducing risk, promoting resilience and aiding recovery.
Jeff, R & Corey, J. 2017. Homelessness, nature, and health: toward a feminist political ecology of masculinities, Gender, Place & Culture, 24:7, 991-1010, DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2017.1347559.
McBrien J. L. 2017. "Refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants: Help for teachers with problematic definitions", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 12 Issue: 2, pp.113-124, https:// doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-03-2017-0001.
Lamb, V., Schoenberger, L., Middleton, C., & Un, B. 2017. Gendered eviction, protest and recovery: a feminist political ecology engagement with land grabbing in rural Cambodia, The Journal of Peasant Studies, 44:6, 1215-1234, DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2017.1311868.
Leder S., Sugden F., Raut M., Ray D and Saikia P. 2019. Ambivalences of collective farming feminist political ecologies from Eastern India and Nepal International Journal of the Commons, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 105-129.
Martinez-Alier, J. 2013. The environmentalism of the poor. Geoforum. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/04.019.
Mollett, S and Kepe, T. 2018. Land Rights, Biodiversity Conservation and Justice. Rethinking Parks and People. Routledge Studies in Sustainable Development; Routledge. London.
Nyoka R, Foote A M, Woods E, Lokey H, O’Reilly C E, Magumba F, et al. 2017.
Correction: Sanitation practices and perceptions in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya: Comparing the status quo with a novel service-based approach. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321958758_Correction_Sanitation_practices_and_perceptions_in_Kakuma_refugee_camp_Kenya_Comparing_the_status_quo_with_a_novel_service-based_approach [accessed Apr 02 2020].
Resurrección, Bernadette P., and Edsel E. Sajor. 2015. “Gender, Floods and Mobile Subjects: A Postdisaster View.” In Gendered Entanglements: Revisiting Gender in Rapidly Changing Asia, edited by Ragnhild Lund, Philippe Doneys, and Bernadette P. Resurrección, 207-34. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
Rocheleau D., Slayster T.B. & Wangari, E. 1996. Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences. London and New York: Routledge.
Rocheleau, D., and Nirmal. P. 2015. Feminist Political Ecologies: Grounded, Networked and Rooted on Earth; Oxford Handbook of Transnational Feminist Movements; London.
Sang, D. 2018. One year on: Time to put women and girls at the heart of Rohingya response. Oxfam Briefing Paper. Oxfam International. Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK. ISBN 978-1-78748-319-4.
Sato C. and Alarcon J. M. S. 2019. Toward a postcapitalist feminist political ecology’s approach to the commons and communing. International Journal of the Commons, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 36-61 Published by: International Journal of the Commons Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26632712 Accessed: 18-06-2019 23:48 UTC.
Schimitt M. L, Clatworthy D. I. D, Ogello T and Sommer M. 2018. Making the Case for a Female-Friendly Toilet, Water,www.mdpi.com/journal/water.
Sommer M, Ferron S, Cavill S and House S. 2014. Violence, gender and WASH: spurring action on a complex, under documented and sensitive topic; Environment and Urbanization Vol 27(1): 105–116. DOI: 10.1177/0956247814564528 www.sagepublications.com.
Souyeon, N. 2018. Toward everyday practices of gender: Implications of feminist political ecology for gender mainstreaming in Korean ODA Department of International Development and Cooperation, Sungkyul University, Gyeonggido, South Korea . Asian Journal of Women's Studies ; Seoul Vol. 24, Iss. 4, 463-488.
Sphere Association. 2018. The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, fourth edition, Geneva, Switzerland. www.spherestandards.org/handbook
Sundberg, J. 2015. Feminist Political Ecology: The International Encyclopedia of Geography, Wiley-Blackwell & Association of American Geographers, USA.
Sulley, R. 2018. Re-Conceptualising Gender and Urban Water Inequality Applying a Critical Feminist Approach to Water Inequality in Dhaka; Bartlett Development Planning Unit, London. www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/latest/publications/dpu-papers
Thompson, J. A., Gaskin, S. A. & Agbor. M. 2017. Embodied intersections: Gender, water and sanitation in Cameroon, Agenda, 31:1, 140-155, DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2017.1341158.
UNEP. 2016. Environment, Religion and Culture in the Context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.
UNHCR (2021) UNHCR Zimbabwe fact sheet, September 2021. Geneva: UNHCR.
UNHCR. 2019. "Refugee women and children face heightened risk of sexual violence amid tensions and overcrowding at reception facilities on Greek islands". UNHCR. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
UNHCR and WFP, 2018. Joint Assessment Mission-Kenya Refugee Operation 2018. Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York.
UNHCR & WFP, 2014. Joint Assessment Mission Report: Tongogara Refugee Camp, Zimbabwe, UNHCR, Harare.
WaterAid. 2018. The Water Gap – The State of the World’s Water, www.wateraid.org .
Watol, B. S. & Assefa, D. T. 2018. The Socio-Economic Impact of Refugees on the Neighboring Countries: The Case of Sherkole Refugee Camp, Western Ethiopia Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: E Economics Volume 18 Issue 4 Version.
Wilbur J. 2016. Mainstreaming Equity and Inclusion in WaterAid: An overview for key triggers for success and challenges; Ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for All; 39th WEDC Conference, Kumasi, Ghana; Water-Aid 47-49 Durham Street, London, S11 5JD.
WHO/UNICEF. 2020. State of the World’s Sanitation: An urgent call to transform sanitation for better health, environments, economies and societies. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization, Published by UNICEF and WHO Programme Division/WASH 3 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 USA www.unicef.org/wash.
WHO/UNICEF. 2017. Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Update and SDG Baselines. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2017. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Yates, T., Allen, J., Leandre Joseph, M. and Lantagne, D. 2017. WASH interventions in disease outbreak response. Humanitarian Evidence Programme. Oxford: Oxfam GB.
Published
2023-07-06
How to Cite
Sibanda, W., Hansen, M. M., & Mukwada, G. (2023). Grappling with Gendered Crises: Women’s Access and Participation in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Activities at Tongogara Refugee Camp, Zimbabwe. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review, 6(7), 212-228. https://doi.org/10.47814/ijssrr.v6i7.1462
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